Australian Land Use Policy and Planning: The Challenges

Land use decisions made during the early years of European settlement are evident in today’s broad land use patterns; the location of major population centres; issues of land degradation; patterns of remnant vegetation; and responses to vulnerable, threatened and rare species. This creates issues and challenges that require national coordination and the development of land use strategies. In areas that have been cleared for agriculture (primarily cereal cropping) and grazing on improved pastures, remnant areas of native vegetation provide a much-reduced, but vitally important, reservoir for biodiversity. In cleared landscapes, issues of soil salinity and acidification create ongoing challenges for