Global warming, biodiversity and land-use in south-eastern Australia 1 Global warming, biodiversity and land-use in south-eastern Australia

Within a few decades after the arrival of European settlers in south-eastern Australia, over 60 000 years of Aboriginal custodianship had been replaced by an exploitative colonialism. With scant knowledge of the climate and no cultural attachment to the landscape, small, independent farmers on privatised land cleared and changed the landscape using exotic species. Biodiversity assets and environmental services were ‘externalities ’ to an economy based on exportable commodities, basically wool and wheat. The transplanted agriculture would contend with the uncertainties of drought, fire, pests and low nutrient soils. In Victoria, agriculture intensified landscape change during the 20th century driven by applied sciences of agronomy and engineering. A new paradigm of land management is emerging in contrast to the colonial and post-colonial periods. These values are already manifest in the expanding conservation uses of public land. This evolution is due to the increasingly apparent legacy of past exploitation, a deeper sense of place, a fuller appreciation of limiting factors such as water and, perhaps the cultural implications of the legal decision that Australia was not terra nullius. Around half of Victoria has future land-use trajectories away from the historical use for agricultural production. The need for society’s land and water use to adapt to climate change is a major novel challenge for this century, as it currently grapples with a legacy of past land management