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Journal of the Australian Rangeland Society
RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

Australian rangeland futures: time now for systemic responses to interconnected challenges

Barney Foran https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6874-0676 A H , Mark Stafford Smith B , Don Burnside C , Martin Andrew D , Don Blesing E , Kate Forrest F and John Taylor G
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Institute of Land, Water and Society, Charles Sturt University, PO Box 789, Albury, NSW 2640, Australia.

B CSIRO Land and Water, PO Box 1700, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.

C D.G. Burnside & Associates, 29 Woodsome Street, Mount Lawley, WA 6050, Australia.

D Martin Andrew Solutions, 132 Kensington Road, Toorak Gardens, SA 5065, Australia.

E Agri-Vision Advisory, PO Box 149, Kent Town, SA 5067, Australia.

F Rangeland NRM Alliance, 92 Galah St, Longreach, Qld 4730, Australia.

G Rangelands Australia, 37 Pioneer Crescent, Bellbowrie, Qld 4070, Australia.

H Corresponding author. Email: bforan@csu.edu.au

The Rangeland Journal 41(3) 271-292 https://doi.org/10.1071/RJ18105
Submitted: 12 November 2018  Accepted: 19 June 2019   Published: 19 July 2019

Journal Compilation © Australian Rangeland Society 2019 Open Access CC BY-NC-ND

Abstract

Australia’s rangelands contain wildlands, relatively intact biodiversity, widespread Indigenous cultures, pastoral and mining industries all set in past and present events and mythologies. The nature of risks and threats to these rangelands is increasingly global and systemic. Future policy frameworks must acknowledge this and act accordingly. We collate current key information on land tenures and land uses, people and domestic livestock in Australian rangelands, and discuss five perspectives on how the rangelands are changing that should inform the development of integrated policy: climate and environmental change, the southern rangelands, the northern rangelands, Indigenous Australia, and governance and management. From these perspectives we argue that more attention must be paid to: ensuring a social licence to operate across a range of uses, acknowledging and supporting a younger, more Indigenous population, implementing positive aspects of technological innovation, halting capital and governance leakages, and building human capacity. A recommended set of systemic responses should therefore (i) address governance issues consistently and comprehensively, (ii) ensure that new technologies can foster the delivery of sustainable livelihoods, and (iii) focus capacity building on a community of industries where knowledge is built for the long-term, and do all three of these with an eye to the changing demographics of the rangelands.

Additional keywords: governance, human capacity, Indigenous, livelihoods, remoteness, sustainability.


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