Outback Resilience: Australia's Ancient Solutions to Modern Desertification | SLICE EARTH | FULL DOC

Australia is struck on two fronts by numerous hardships: the areas bordering the desert are huge meat factories, the heart of the desert is consumed by a dramatic proliferation of animals introduced by the colonists, and are now left to their own devices.
The country is experiencing an increase of all the extremes: sand storms, bush fires, droughts, flash floods, extreme temperatures, poor soil, lack of drinking water ... With a 0.9°C temperature increase since 1910, the continent fights daily with climate change.
The inhabitants arm themselves against the elements: important ocean water desalination factories to produce drinking water and thus fight against drought, the reintroduction of burning methods practised by the First Nations people in the past, and livestock farmers’ methods aiming at being more environmentally friendly.
Faced with urgency, the government sends scientists to converse with the aborigines for a sharing of know-how. They discover some of their secrets.
Documentary: Planet Sand - Episode 4: Australia, The Desert Continent (2016)
Directed by Thierry Berrod & Quincy Russell
Production: Mona Lisa Productions
#documentary #freedocumentary #ecology #earth #environment #sustainability #climatechange #science #desertification #challenges #australia #outback #resilience #climateaction #firstnations #climatecrisis #climateadaptation #australiawildlife #climatesolutions #extremeweather #climatescience #awareness

[@nicolechalmer61]

😂Australia was aridified after the first Homo sapiens arrived around 50-60 thousand years ago. They caused the extinction of of over 90percent of fauna including megafauna that previously were vital in cycling nutrients maintaining the vegetation and ecosystems that maintained hydrology. Australian ecosystems eventually stabilised under deep Aboriginal management but everything was destabilized and further degraded again after the next human invasion by Europeans. I have described this in my book 'Ecoagriculture for a Sustainable Food Future' based on my PhD thesis looking at human impacts on Australian ecosystems since the Pleistocene. Dr Nicole Chalmer

[@ChowYewLoon]

The 1st mistake they did is chop down the trees!

[@terryshelton5228]

there are more trees now than settlement this presentation is a crock of bullshit!

[@Bennie32831]

Salinity is not irreversible

[@johndoh5182]

CORRECT. Unfortunately the ability of different environments to get rid of the sodium in it varies, so the rate at which different environments can get rid of high salinity is a large variable. So there's that. You can't do the same thing all over the world. And for part of the world I don't know why you would. However in lands that have been lost to desertification almost exclusively because of man's lack of understanding of dealing with those lands, mostly white Europeans who moved around the world wanting to set up agriculture but certainly not limited to that, there are steps that can be taken to recover a good chunk of that and processes have been used by people around the world to do this, and not just one group of indigenous people. But over thousands of years indigenous people destroyed environments and also learned to restore certain environments, mostly to suit their needs. Having said that you didn't understand the reason why the salinity increased I guess, and to say you can reverse salinity when the ground water is full of sodium, well, have fun with that one. It would take a lot of effort. The one thing many humans fail to understand is that most natural environments are millions of years in the making. Also, hydrology is a very fickle thing.

[@playgirl7305]

Yes it is irreversible! Take 2 glasses. Nr. 1 with sea water Nr. 2 with fresh water. Take the salt from 1, add it to glass 2. Repeat in the reverse direction from glass 2 to glass 1.

[@pjkkerr]

Trees pump huge amounts of water out of the ground and into the air as vapour. When they are cut down, the water table rises and when it reaches the surface, evaporation leaves a salt deposit that kills plants. The recovery process involves planting tree belts next to the salt areas to start lowering the water table. As this happens the rain dissolves the salt and takes it back down underground where it came from, allowing more trees to be planted on the newly recovering strip of land. Salt tolerant eucalypt varieties collected from natural salt environments are particularly suitable for this. A slow process, but one lots of farmers in the West Australian wheat belt are using.

[@sootuckchoong7077]

If China, those deserts can be filled with trees, plants, fishes, cities.

[@jimgraham6722]

​@@johndoh5182Salt in the Australian surface environment arises from ground water (itself usually not very salty) reaching the surface (upper meter) then evaporating, concentrating and then leaving behind an accumulation of salt. The problem over much of Australia's interior is that on balance (over decades) evaporation rates consistently exceed rainfall rates so the salt doesn't get flushed to the sea and goes on accumulating. Most contemporary fixes involve lowering the water table (by planting salt tolerant trees and saltbush). In places this has been very successful at containing damage from salt, but doesn't lend itself to agricultural activity. Technical fixes to the problem are likely possible using large scale desalination as is done in parts of the middle east. So far though many Australian farmers have demonstrated increased adeptness at desert farming, exploiting 'windows of productivity' or geographically dispersing their activity. Consequently, outside long established irrigation areas, there has not been much appetite for these types of project in Australia.

[@Bennie32831]

Trees used to stop evaporation and slow and cool wind now it heats up on farming country

[@James-kv6kb]

I live in country South Australia and it is totally insane I would describe the wind as psychotic , it never stops in it so destructive . But of course there are no trees left so I'm assuming that's why

[@dingodog5677]

No, trees take up water and release it through evapotranspiration. You need soil moisture. It doesn’t create rain.

[@James-kv6kb]

@@dingodog5677 ok so I lived in Canberra for a year which is surrounded by virgin bush and it rained quite often , however go across into the border into New South Wales where there are no trees and there's very little water at all. The trees need to be in the ground to keep the ground alive . When you have lots of trees the leaves fall down and create compost which creates healthy soil

[@dingodog5677]

@@James-kv6kb every chance you just moved into a drier climate zone. if you don’t have ground moisture or rain you won’t have trees. That’s why deserts and grasslands exist. Trees grow where they can, they don’t grow where they can’t. Everywhere west of the divide is arid or desert, naturally. The veg is all sclerophyll, large trees are non existent and most woody veg is savanna or shrubbery. Vegetation holds soil together but predominately grasses and shrubs, trees to a much lesser degree. Let’s not be blinded by our bias for trees. They are only a part of the ecosystems and not in all.

[@bolengerin]

trees cause net evapotranspiration, but stop saline groundwater from rising to the soil surface and concentrating there. which kills most shallow rooted plants, and tree seedlings and damaging mature trees. The tree's shade and wind-disrupting canopy, reduces bare soil evaporation, and grass and row crop evapotranspiration. Generally trees don't cause precipitation, but forested areas create higher elevation for condensation (like a 70m eucalyptus or redwood), increase dew and fog interception, with more surface area from leaves and branches, or continuously forested areas where increased ET leads to cloud formation and more rain downwind (visible in the Amazon by satellite). Also where grass doesn't readily establish without trees and shrubs, the trees contribute critical soil carbon which increases the topsoil water holding capacity. ​@dingodog5677

[@lisadolan689]

It’s relevant to note that Australia has always been a desert country. Idiot colonists made it sooo much worse. FYI: first fleeter on one side and indigenous on the other side. 7 generations. Primarily pastoralists who had very bad farming practices. Our family property is heritage listed and has had no stock on it since 1962. The land has finally recovered.

[@rustycowell7264]

When you till the land and expose it to UVB light it kills the biosphere, I have a feeling you already know that but the global climate cartel seems to ignore it

[@tonyspaccarelli8702]

Don't worry they have scientist's that are trying to figure it out .....heh heh

[@SuperReznative]

​@@tonyspaccarelli8702Then again, you have gov & military playing with HAARP weather modification. Same in Canada & U.S. Admitted , documented, patented. used as a weapon.

[@quietackshon]

"Idiot colonists"? Are you referring to the Aboriginal people who devastated the megafauna of Australia to extinction? This anti-colonialist mindset has rendered b people dull of mind. Cherry picking history so you can get your daily dose of virtue is childish.

[@patemblen3644]

Congrats LisaD. It sounds like your family were smart.

[@peterreeve3030]

Farina was built to service the Central Australian Railway not as an agricultural town, when the railway pushed north so did a lot of the population, it was used as a stock loading area for many years and when the railway was rerouted further to the east in the mid 1980s that was when the town was left to decay. Now the friends of Farina are in the process of restoring buildings. There is now an amazing Bakery (opening in the winter months) a year round camp ground and a productive cattle farm.

[@lukepukeroa9694]

Fia poko

[@Igel-jo8xv]

Oh how lovely maybe I could buy a latte there some day.

[@Maybe1Someday]

You have no trees, you have no rain

[@James-kv6kb]

The farmers still want to do it the way grandpa did and it's just not working anymore

[@33mavboy]

This is, Australia, my neighbor chopped his tree down so he can cement his whole driveway for his 4wd, people don't care, the greens are a mock.@@James-kv6kb

[@33mavboy]

there is one old fella that I forget the name of the video, restored his land, Africa is doing it and its working. @@James-kv6kb

[@TheNonplayer]

I saw a video of someone suggesting setting central australia under water (it's lower than sea level) by digging a canal towards the inland. by doing that, there would be less land to bridge for clouds to rain upon the land, also there would be a lot of evaporation from the inland sea. next to that, the inland sea could have several canals towards the coast, making good ways to transport all kind of things.

[@James-kv6kb]

@@TheNonplayer what drugs are you on ?

[@gnored]

You could take almost everything that has been said in the documentary and apply it, directly, to West Texas here in the northern Chihuahuan desert. No doubt one could say the same thing about vast stretches of Africa, Central and South America, and many others.

[@brucegoodall3794]

Least we forget Green Land. 😊

[@saintsone7877]

Correct mate but then that would not suit the agenda the clip maker is pushing. He talks about the desalination plant in Western Australia but does not mention no dams have been built for nearly 50 years whilst population in WA has risen. Rainfall in Australia is higher now than it was 50 years ago yet most is wasted as NOTHING has been done to capture this water and let it fill dams. I live in the outback in NSW and in the last 3 years we have exceeded annual rainfall by 50% or more. Up and down the coastline of Eastern Australia we have had flood after flood during the last 3-5 years and again most is wasted as dams are relatively full and during floods have to release water as they cannot store it. This video is an example of fitting the facts to the narrative you push. Given the right amount of funding someone could make a video debunking the majority of the claims in this video.

[@ryanbell3053]

​​@@saintsone7877dams would not really help much. They would capture water im not saying they do nothing but if you want to improve environmental conditions you need to slow the water movement and increase green life from grass to trees. This helps replenish underground water and lowers water tables reducing salinity and future proofs for much longer then a dam. An increase of greenlife can increase the rainfall further inland while increasing the rate in which water infiltrates soils when large rainfall events happen. Dams store water that's it. Natural sequence farmer Peter Andrews has increased water holding over large swathes of land. Africans are holding back desertification of the sahara with slowing water in land and planting an abundance of plant life. Dams seem great but they stop water not slow it down.

[@tomfromoz8527]

@@saintsone7877 This video is from *2016.* _Debunk?_ Yeah, Nah. Dams in rivers destroy *whole ecosystems,* unless you're talking about ponds and lakes used as reservoirs. Yes, almost all the floods are on the east coast, refilling that huge underground water reserve. But the climate crisis...well that gets in the way of greed fuelled _business_ until it starts to impact their bottom line. On the whole, WA is *still* in drought despite the rain up north. I know the news only really covers the east coast, but the Perth suburbs have spread like mould in the past decade! Far too many market gardens are now sub-divisions, or industrial "parks." So, de-salination here is *needed* unless we get some of that rain you're complaining about. It's easy to think this is a new doco... *because nothing has changed* despite this being from 2016. M8. Pam {Tom's wife}

[@deangounden6561]

Wherever the white Christian went ,destruction followed

[@peterdykzeul3074]

Coming from New Zealand and having travelled around Australia I have always been fascinated at how they farm, or make that attempt to farm, in much of Australia. At some stage there must be a reckoning to say that farming is just not viable in certain areas. This was a point made by their PM years ago. And while I realise that the farmers do not want their stock starving to death but they do and I find that abhorrent. Sorry. Here you would be prosecuted in court.

[@chrismaynard4117]

😂😅

[@chrismaynard4117]

Oh so perfect mr peterdykzeul3074 we have two distinctly different countries.So quick to judge,must be nice to be perfect and be able to judge others with your 21st century eyes!!

[@jaymannewell]

Coming from Australia i never understood why NZ went from sheep to cattle and destroyed their waterways, remember when it was a "pristine" environment ? Now you can't even swim let alone drink from 90% of NZ fresh water ways. Enjoy not even being able to match Tasmania in exports thanks to your PM and regulatory anti farming lobbyists.

[@tilapiadave3234]

And what YOU NZ' ers do to sheep would see you in jail in nearly any country

[@Mrbfgray]

PM "making a point" but none of his (hers, themz, theyz, it's....) biz, ppl there know best. They figure it out, adjust, move on. So ANYTIME a head of livestock dies a farmer goes to jail? WTH, where do you draw the line? You can find deadstock on any large ranch anywhere in world, and dead 'wildlife' everywhere that it can exist, even more so in the desert where decay can become as slow as weathering. *You* wouldn't know if it died 6 months or 6 yrs ago, how why or where it came from, but some random unpleasant media images controls you. Reality will intrude on your privileged fantasyland one day.

[@garryrichardson4572]

I stopped at 3:52 to say the original inhabitants also burned the forest so they could hunt better leaving the eucalyptus tree the dominant tree which thrives on burn and regeneration, other deciduous plants didn’t return to some areas but the eucalyptus causes the fires when it’s hot because their leaves give off a haze of flammable gas when super hot.

[@user-ke8wv9lo6w]

The Native Australians (Aborigine) knows how to live in the most extreme conditions in Australia.

[@wishbone5785]

Yep on Government handouts.

[@countplokoon]

@@wishbone5785 for 40,000 years? Damn you aussies are a generous lot.

[@glennmorrissey2529]

They were minute in numbers in comparison to persons per acre let's say in the modern era. The practices of the people then will not save what is required now to feed the nation, we can't all wander and eat berries etc.

[@patemblen3644]

@@glennmorrissey2529 No we can't. Maybe they show us the true carrying capacity of the inland. We should get rid of the huge cattle stations and let the country recover.

[@glennmorrissey2529]

@@patemblen3644 Hi Pat, can't agree with you here, people are not going to stop coming here that is a given, I think Labor are bringing 1.8 million in the next few years. The huge cattle stations are not the issue, it is water and we build no dams whatsoever, I can't recall the in the last twenty five years and dams being built in any state, I shall google and see if any. Water brings life.

[@DavidJohnson-yg8qm]

Its a pity the recent floodwaters couldn't have been diverted into the desert through the mountain ranges

[@James-kv6kb]

There was a guy 100 years ago that proposed this and they have been arguing about it ever since it seems so logical ,yes pump the water to somewhere where it's actually going to be useful but they won't do it because they keep arguing about who's going to pay for it and what do they get for their money. they don't realise that the damage caused by the floods every year are costing way more than any infrastructure would cost . In South Australia we put a thousand kilometres of water pipes in the 50s in so I don't see why other states can't do that

[@uggali]

And New Zealand is mountainous with many rains and waterways that wash away topsoil unless secured by native bush

[@cristop5]

And still they're clearing Queensland's brigalow belt.

[@SuperReznative]

same in Saskatchewan Cy ,so many farmers clearing every bit of land..

[@patemblen3644]

Insane isn't it.

[@ianking-jv4hg]

..and clearing the forests east of the Great Dividing Range for all manner of lunacy. Clearing the tops of mountain ranges to install wind "farm" that are not Green at all. Then clearing wide swathes of forest from those toxic, inefficient follies to erect the cable towers for power delivery down to the coastal cities and towns.

[@cristop5]

@@ianking-jv4hg The latest land clearing data from Queensland show clearing at the rate of about 350K Ha per year. If you can show me more than a tiny portion of this is for turbines and power lines you may have a point. But nearly all of the RE infrastructure is in open country and most clearing is to turn woodland and forest into pasture for cattle. Are you angry with this far bigger problem, or is it only wind power that bothers you?

[@James-kv6kb]

I heard they were clearing on the scale of the Amazon in Queensland

[@rmf9567]

Living in an environment with no water and rain is insanity

[@vivalaleta]

We can repair the desert.

[@rmf9567]

@@michaelrogers2080 of course I understand that but still living in an area that has no rivers or rain is crazy

[@caretakerfochr3834]

oh really?@@vivalaleta

[@vivalaleta]

@@caretakerfochr3834 kzbin.info/www/bejne/sKLOoJ5opZJ-rZosi=atVlu9YI9wGT06Iw

[@vivalaleta]

@@caretakerfochr3834 kzbin.info/www/bejne/h4m0o6mKZ5ilhtksi=3R3zx9JN4k0lz-g4

[@b_uppy]

Two things, firstly the man blamed a rising water table for the salinity, but rather it was erosion due wind and water, as well as collapsing healthy soil biomes that cause the surface to drop closer to the salty water levels. Harvesting rainwater thru small frequent catchments made from onsite materials will dilute the salts and reverse biome collapse. Much Australia's agricultural products actually land in Asia, rather than the US. The farmers and ranchers would do well to follow Mark Sheperd's methods of growing biome- appropriate food-and feed-producing, polycultured shrubs, vines, trees in an alley cropped system that alternates with perennials, grasses, and annuals. This mimicks the most productive food system known, the savanna. The weeds, fertility, pests etc are managed by diverse livestock. This does more to rebuild soil, and appropriate soil moisture. It eliminates costly inputs and substitutes them with black line, profit-making management systems. The livestock are healthier, their products more nutritionally complete, the soil rebuilds, there is more climate resiliency built-in, there is more food security, the farmer had more economic resiliency, etc. This system is called restoration agriculture. The other side of using this is that it adds market diversity, too. Asians are very adaptable about foods, so the international market is there for novel food systems. Australia is full of permaculture innovators the government just needs to support education regarding these better methods (thinking of Lawton, Andrews, and Mollison, to name a few... Should be added that droving is reasonable provided they stop overgrazing. Eating the grasses to where they are less than several inches tall is a no-no and harms soil as well as the ability of the feed to recover quickly.

[@macawism]

Worked in a Muslim country for long enough to eat camel dozens of times & Australian camels are said to be healthier than ones in Saudi Arabia. Maybe some sustained marketing might help…

[@b_uppy]

@@macawism It would. Think they are likely keeping the carcasses out of the market, though. That's often what they do with culled animals in the US. That is wasteful. China is experiencing food shortages, as well as they (Oz) could use this to feed the poor in their country as well as sell to those wishing to buy novel game meat abroad at high prices.

[@zalired8925]

Over clearing which causes the water to rise is the number one reason for salinity and salt pans. Salinity has nothing to do with soil erosion, I lived with salinity turning cropping paddocks into bare salty earth. We had salt pans so large in area we used them for screaming through and throwing a mini minor around that I cut the roof off. Two million was spent digging a continuous channel system through the the entire western side of the property (74,000acre sheep and cropping property on mid Eyre Peninsula SA) which had the most damage from salinity. The channel had to be at least 3m wide and 2m deep with over 90km of channel dug cutting from the top of salt creek (it's actual name because the water is twice as salty as sea water) cutting in a large loop to rejoin salt creek at the bottom of the property. Some areas were still savable by isolating the entire area and gradually reintroducing original native ground cover then replanting the original mallee bush.

[@b_uppy]

@@zalired8925 You're misunderstanding some crucial principles. 1) Erosion removes the good soil, exposing the saltier layers. Look up photos that show soil losses during the Great Dust Bowl in the US. During that period the affected areas lost 6 ft of soil... 2) Removing trees, plowing, monocropping/chemical ag causes the microbiome to die off and the ground to collapse/undergo compaction/subside. That also allows the saltier layers to be near the surface.

[@had7669]

youre correct, old mate is wrong @@b_uppy

[@johndoh5182]

37:00 Right on dude. The PROPER application of science to a problem. The problem is many decades ago the science was in mass production failing to understand what that can do to different environments, or to say it another way, what the environment will end up doing to that land being used for mass production. You have to figure out how to work within that natural system. Getting away from Australia and into tropical lands I see a lot of people starting to apply permaculture because it makes sense to do that there. I've seen tours of people's properties and it's absolutely wonderful and rich and full of life. Instead of chasing nature out, the agriculture was incorporated into that natural environment, and done properly it enriches the life there. These are the kinds of people I respect the most, those who figure out how to work within a natural system to provide benefit to themselves via farming and ALSO the natural system. This is sustainable agriculture.

[@razmiihsan8897]

Still they got millions of feral rabbits, camels, emus and kangaroos. That's lot of meat.

[@lunaflamed]

AMEN!! YUMMY

[@CynthiaCaresse]

It made my heart swell to see people with such love for the land. And yes that man is correct in feeling like a child when walking next to someone whose linage walking that same earth is over 50,000 years old! Receptive to the wisdom. That made me smile ❤

[@vineleak7676]

Do you feel the same walking next to a white person in Europe or just noble savage obsession?

[@CynthiaCaresse]

@@vineleak7676 Race or background doesnt matter in the slightest, however, the relationship with the earth and wisdom passed down does. It just so happens that aboriginal Australians have a deeply significant connection and relationship with this land. So when it comes to restoring/preserving said land, turning to them for wisdom and learning is the best course of action for all 💛

[@vineleak7676]

@@CynthiaCaresse I mean that is a very naïve way of seing the world... Don't forget aboriginals hunted the megafauna auf Australia to extinction...

[@monikarani4471]

We took and took and never gave back

[@yaddahaysmarmalite4059]

if giving back was a profitable commodity, wall st would be trading in shares.

[@33mavboy]

I mean it does but they don't see resources, they see money, and money blinds people, imagine if communism was positive or something like it, the community of communism, not a oligarch@@yaddahaysmarmalite4059

[@christopherhammond4490]

So what are you doing?

[@ChristaFree]

They should take advice of Alan Savoy from the Savoy Institute in S Africa. He rehabilitated hundreds of thousands of hectares that the government had deemed irredeemable. He proved it works time and time again. He used sheep, but cattle, goats, camels and other livestock can be used too. The basic concept is you graze the animals elsewhere, or you feed them on site, then you lock them up tight together at night for about two weeks, until the ground is saturated and slick with muck. Then you move over and repeat. You don't return to those lands to graze until it has sprouted and gone to seed, basically a season. He showed 52% improvement in one year. The lands he improved remained green while all the land around his died, they both received the same amount of rainfall which was minimum. Seasonal streams became permanent, wells were recharged. The results can't be denied, he repeated them over and over again. Australia should try this, start on the edges of the desert and move inward. Use the animals' dung and urine. It's the natural way and it never fails. Ask the farmers to help out with providing muck if they can't get their animals over there. Cover the ground with about 4-6 inches of muck, it's enough to start growth and sequester fresh water, allowing life to begin to grow. Australia also floods a lot. That water could be channeled to dry areas thrrough a series of canals and percolation ponds. If Australia wanted to totem this desert green they would. They know how, it's not even new science. They choose not to, for whatever reason, probably to blame climate change. I'm not sure who decided that climate should never change but it always has. Im not sure mother nature cares about what they say. None of the remedies are expensive or complex logistically. They're quite simple.

[@jimgraham6722]

Savory didn't come up with anything new. His farming technique is essentially the same as strip grazing, a technique that has been used for many decades. It can work well in places where rainfall is reliable and gentle. However, in places where rainfall is episodic and heavy, or is very low, or there is potential for wind erosion, it can simply denude the landscape and cause heavy erosion. Although strip grazing and similar techniques can be used in some parts of Australia, over most of the country it is either unsuitable or can only be used under specific climatic conditions.

[@georgep.6194]

Shiploads of Cow dung were being shipped out to the Gulf nations !! This proves the ' greediness " of the Australian govt. 😮😮😮

[@Pax.Alotin]

@@georgep.6194 Never heard of that. Do you have links ? I would be interested to know more.

[@theformalmooshroom9147]

Geesus, you're a genius who needs scientists to tell them anything when you this fountain of knowledge. Of course, no one has anywhere near the same intellect as you they couldn't possibly have ever thought of a plan like this, let alone any potential flaws such a plan might have

[@haplesshominid2810]

Yeah but South Africa gross

[@ichifish]

Thirty seconds of video of the ruins of the houses showed me that those people were doomed to fail; they're not designed for hot weather. If they didn't know how to build for the environment it's hard to believe they understood how to live in the ecosystem.

[@Bennie32831]

As you can tell no not enough water holding practices are used

[@gman7329]

Permaculture & Biochar can improve the soil & capture moisture to turn not only Australia but any dry land area into an oasis!

[@patemblen3644]

While I am on your side re Permy, once the upper soil layers are saline for thousands of acres it's a long slow haul to bring it back. Other (Permaculture) methods are needed plus lifetimes of patience.

[@James-kv6kb]

Nobody will put any money in because the weather is too erratic and you're not allowed to do anything with most of the country because it's been given back to the Aboriginal people who just want it to stay exactly the way it is .

[@Bennie32831]

If you let your rain run off it doesn't soak in

[@Indiana_James]

Finally, listening to one if not the oldest culture on planet Earth. 🤔 Might have been a good idea from the beginning. 🧐

[@hydrolifetech7911]

Unfortunately, the colonisers were too busy gen0ciding the indigenous people to listen to them

[@peterjones4180]

Really who do you think cleared the land by burning over tens of thousands of years eh.

[@philippebracq884]

​@peterjones4180 It takes a d..b bag to blame the Natives. At the start of the video, the guy clearly stated that the land vas covered by forest.

[@kdegraa]

People including Australian Aborigines today, are not interested in living a Stone Age lifestyle. No one who ever came out of the bush decided to back there.

[@user-sc7fk5ys6x]

Speaking of societal age, one can listen also to the Khoisan then. Wonder how much they would agree? Seriously though, in societies that have kept no objective records, the deep past that they call the “Dream Time” is all conjecture. While there may have been people provably living there for 50,000 years, that time span may have covered hundreds of minor civilizations growing, colonizing, and destroying each other leaving the current residents to invent all their collective memories within say the last two centuries.

[@gauriblomeyer1835]

We know this all too well. Interesting is the future when all deserts in Australia have disappeared. How a desert is slowly transformed you can see at SEKEM in Egypt or Israel and China and Africa. There is a secret not acknowledged by science. It is the fact that planting trees attracts rain. Today it cannot be denied anymore.

[@loverlyme]

Unfortunately when profit and greed prevail, our environment suffers. About 30 years ago I saw the result of trees being taken out of the soil (in an area that still had much vegetation and sources of free water). There were trees all around the New England area suffering from 'die back.' They were dying from the roots up. Trees and even small shrubs help to keep the land intact and flourishing (and also helps to stop landslides). Once you remove this vegetation, the salt table (which should be way down in the layers of soil) starts moving it's way to the top of the soil. This is what causes those big cracks in the ground. Furthermore, when it does eventually rain, that rain just goes straight through those cracks and the rest slides off the top, so even rain is repelled. On top of this, we have to contend with water in rivers being siphoned off upstream. There needs to be a better way to share the water as it flows from the upper parts of Australia right down to the south. Of course, there's degradation of the land from mining. They advertise that they'll replenish the land when they're done but we've not seen anywhere the amount that needs to be done compared to what has been ruined. Look at the coal seam gas invasion. Are the doing anything to replenish what is taken? Or is the land above going to be too unstable to be used for buildings and the like? Is the land above subject to collapsing? Added to this, there are farmers in the local areas where this mining takes place who are starting to see unusual illnesses in those who live near these sites. When are these 'profit and greed' types going to admit to harming the environment and the people who live nearby? So, to the solutions? * Regrow shrubs and trees around each section of your crops. Better still, plan your crops AROUND existing vegetation. *Add more CARBON into the soil. (Look up 'carbon farming' and 'natural sequence farming' on YT to find some excellent explanations.) *For the home gardener, make sure you start a compost bin and regularly add ready compost to your lawns, pot plants and gardens. There are loads of councils in Australia who will subsidise the cost of a compost bin and some councils give away bags of compost several times per year. *Look into the laws governing the flow of rivers, then start petitioning your national PM to make some changes. Someone here will have to tell us a better solution first! *Look into the requirements for mining near to communities and land and water sources. Petition to have these laws be more than four times the current requirements. Being fair, we do need the value of mining so we don't go broke as a nation but there does need to be better rules in place to keep environments and people safe. Anyone got any better ideas?

[@johnfowler4820]

Cows roam along the roadside because they are naturally nosey. There were 20 cattle on the station next to the one I worked on in WA. 100;000 acres and they were always by the only tarmac road through the property.

[@4RedDwarf3]

LOL nosey is a funny word for a cow, curious may be the same, but still

[@TORiley-sg3km]

The grass is greener in the bar ditch, due to the runoff from the improved surface

[@jimgraham6722]

In Australia this is known as grazing the long paddock. The margins of roads often are well watered by tarmac runnoff.

[@Pax.Alotin]

@@jimgraham6722 Not just Cattle - but Roos --- Birds - Snakes - All that lovely grass - brings in a whole mob of party-animals.

[@bonifaciosalamat6579]

Australia's desserts can be the answer and help solve the continuous global warming and rising sea level,, using desalinated water, Australia should build lakes and water reservoirs in different parts of Australia's vast dessert with irrigation systems,,turning them into an arable lands, rainforest and habitable region in the southern hemisphere..

[@kieranh2005]

A question. How would the toxic brine from the desalination process be disposed of?

[@patemblen3644]

@@kieranh2005 Dams do not make water. Irrigation worsens salination. You can't farm like a European if the rainfall is so non European. Think again.

[@user-sc7fk5ys6x]

@@kieranh2005depending how toxic the brine is… seaweed can survive in higher salinity than land plants; maybe something can be bred/ engineered to even higher levels of salt tolerance.

[@jimgraham6722]

Australia's interior has the space and often quite good soils. However, over much of the country it lacks rainfall sufficient for the surface water needed for anything but desert agriculture. Large scale desalination is definitely a possibility. A 4GW nuclear power station coupled to a comparable desalination plant could generate a fresh water stream comparable to Australia's largest existing river.

[@James-kv6kb]

First of all where are the billions of dollars going to come from to pay for the de-sal units which are extremely expensive to buy an operate ? And piping water 2000 km , Then you need vast amounts of money to pay off the Aboriginal activists that will tell you you're not doing anything on their land until you pay them off , Before you even get to planting anything

[@user-do1qn4pj4w]

The wildlife has been in crisis for a long time We starve our dingoes And leave Brumbies with no water We have the longest fence in the world to keep all the other animals in the desert, we keep dingoes out on a sandy island to try and find a lizard on the beach, no-one is allowed to feed them its illegal, we think they are murderers, but that's bloody questionable We are sick and its horrifying

[@SMMore-bf4yi]

Top viewing, What can be gleaned from this story is not dissimilar to the Egyptian story, once an Eden savanna, now desert, unearthing township remains…camels the lot… The earths environment knows where to plant, encouraging only enough ppl & animals for all to remain viable, listening to nature & the indigenous is where it’s at, these ppl doing 🤙

[@somnathsharma8409]

Good approach by scientists to grow the drought resistant plants to change soil pattern

[@estebancorral5151]

You are correct. Mexico has had an agrarian interaction in arid lands for centuries which included the use of agaves and cacti which thrive in the desert. Furthermore, this plants are cultivated which extends the prolificity. They are directly edible by man or fed to stock.

[@smefour]

Perth is planning for it never to have rain again, already getting a fraction of what it had.. damn

[@CynthiaCaresse]

I know that hit me too

[@tomfromoz8527]

You just earned a new subscriber SLICE Earth! *Pam* {Tom's wife}

[@SLICE_Earth]

Ohhh thank you so much Pam!

[@omerthaika]

Good Documentary.😊

[@SLICE_Earth]

Thank you so much!

[@1210CM]

How long will it take us humans to understand that the environment we live in is a reflection of ourselves, of our state of mind. If fertile land is turned into a lifeless desert, it is because there exists a desert in us ourselves already, our hearts have dried up, our minds are empty, the pursuit of profit rules supreme. Greed is a deadly disease, not a virtue.

[@peterjones4180]

What a load of bollocks, Australia is a very INFERTLE land, leached soils millions of years old. The deserts are likewise much older than European presence here.

[@James-kv6kb]

So many people say we need to do something about the environment usually on a phone made in China and can count 1000 products in their house from China made in unregulated factories causing climate change lol

[@RJFP67]

Here in Michigan we are blessed not only with the Great Lakes but with many glacial lakes as well. I’m close to Lake Superior but I live nearer to a Glacial lake that’s 13 miles long with plenty of fish. It also has beautiful islands scattered throughout. Some are private islands compounds. One even has a float plane . That private Island is huge with many buildings.

[@13ccasto]

Should have taken a look at the awesome permaculture projects in Australia

[@linmal2242]

Yes but they are not in arid areas where beefs are being grown ! And sheep, and goats to prune the last of the vegetation !

[@andreweastaughffe1070]

@@linmal2242 cattle is raised not just in the arid parts of australia its raised in most of australia including the coastal area's that are not developed

[@1timbarrett]

Time to rewatch ‘Walkabout’! 😮

[@TheSeanHyden]

This video harps on the plight of the farmers and livestock. The farmers and the livestock were the prime cause of the desertification issue.

[@peterjones4180]

REALLY ! suggest you look at the age of Australia's deserts ! They predate European colonization by thousands and thousands of years.

[@TheSeanHyden]

@peterjones4180 exactly. And they still try to maximise their profits, whilst increasing the severity of present desertification, in an area which is naturally prone to desertification cycles. If you can't see the connection between bad agricultural methods and growing desertification, then you're either a) one of those bad farmers, or b) a dunce.

[@James-kv6kb]

For a 100 thousand years the Aborigines have been setting fire to the place so that the food will come out and other food will turn up and eat the new grass then the settlers removed any remaining trees and we have the situation we have

[@asirem679]

it is rather people's bad management that is the prime cause of desertification , try holistic planned grazing.

[@James-kv6kb]

@@asirem679 I'm very drunk so I'll bite OK what is holistic planned grazing ? I'm sure there is a much simpler explanation for this term

[@playgirl7305]

The wild camels , rabbits problem, could have been easier solved if Australians started to eat them, and export the over supply as delicious bio products . No chemical food supplements, antibiotics etc in their food.

[@juliesheard2122]

Quite! But farmers are not known to be imaginative 😂

[@playgirl7305]

@@juliesheard2122 well, then let the government promote businesses that use camel, rabbits meat with a huge Subvention from tax payers. Those who prefer beef, chicken nuggets, wings etc okay. It's their problem. A hamburger from the likes of McDonald's or Burgerking with camel or rabbit, should become normal.

[@James-kv6kb]

People don't understand we're talking about a thousand km of absolutely nothing there's no refrigeration in a lot of these places and refrigerated trucks are very expensive to run so by the time you get the meat to a capital city it's off . Despite modern Australians thinking we're all dumb most of these ideas have actually been thrown about before and dismissed

[@gardengeek3041]

That's a brilliant comment. It deserves a thousand thumbs up. But, in the KZbin comment section it seems people want to focus on the problem more than any solutions. To shame and blame. Or, to get stuck in hopelessness. You may have noticed, playgirl, at this moment in time, that's what gets thumbs.up and multiple replies. I'm glad the trend didn't keep you from commenting.

[@James-kv6kb]

@@gardengeek3041 Mate you just talking shit. You're just raving on and you don't know anything about the outback of Australia obviously because you live in a city

[@stephenbrickwood1602]

Even Hobart is in warmer latitudes than southern France.

[@imtheeastgermanguy5431]

I'm not a farmer or a expert but I saw a video about Allan savory about holistic planned grazing Management in Simbabwe and other areas. It worked but "every grass has to be decayed biologically until the next rainy season is coming ". He uses lifestock to graze the land but not over grazing it. They poo and pee on the soil and break up the hard soil to let rain soak in instead of running or evaporatoring of

[@10laws2liveby]

What a glorious world it would be if all the ranchers were reborn as cattle and the cattle reborn as judges and jurors.

[@clarissastewart4872]

Please , show the date , the year . This could be 5 years ago or now . With this extreme land degradation , its important to observe the progression over time, accurately.

[@SLICE_Earth]

The documentary is from 2016, all the info about our documentaries is in description 😊

[@tomfromoz8527]

@@SLICE_Earth And yet the information is *still current!* What a terribly sad thing that is. I hope that you can edit in any new information and release this again with a plea to Australians to call out to the ABC to have it shown on _Landline._ Because of the three time/strike rule... The first time I warned you, maybe you didn't hear me. The second time, maybe you didn't understand. If I have to warn you a third time, I *know that you're ignoring me!* And *then* we can take it to social media. Because the world is in more dire circumstance in 2024. People *need* some hope for the future. *Pam* {Tom's wife}

[@jol1958]

What happened to all the water from the 100-year floods?

[@knoll9812]

Degraded land cannot retain and it rushes to sea along with top soil

[@jimgraham6722]

Much of Australia's internal drainage system has no outlet to the sea. Water percolates down to the aquifer and/or settles into a 10,000 square kilometers drainage basin known as Lake Eyre. Lake Eyre is up to 15m below sea level and can hold many cubic kilometres of water. Typically after floods the lake fills, then, when dry times return, it dries out over a couple of years, leaving behind vast salt flats. Lake Eyre whether it is full of water or dry is a spectacular sight.

[@James-kv6kb]

For a years they have been arguing about an idea of piping that water into the middle of Australia and the stupid politicians keep arguing about the cost despite the fact that every year the floods create massive damage. South Australia a state with very little money built a thousand km of water pipes but the biggest states refused to it so the water ends up going out into the ocean .

[@James-kv6kb]

​@@jimgraham6722I thought he was referring to the eastern states floods and asking where the water from that is going

[@moniquelefebvre4798]

Fascinating, thank you!

[@SLICE_Earth]

Thank you for watching!

[@peterbeyer5755]

Ita all bloody flooded now! Highest ever recorded rainfall. People missing in flood water. Two more cyclones forming in the top end, God help us.

[@2MaxVoltage]

That's good tucker

[@maxschon7709]

4:56 where is that place?

[@somnathsharma8409]

What about the salt after desalination of water, sell it?

[@VaxtorT]

Most of the desertification occurred after the Biblical Flood and the break up of the continents. Climate change has been an on going problem ever since. However, the aborigines that migrated there after the Flood, and not 40 thousand years ago, did an excellent job at maintaining a balanced environment. It is true that the arrival of Europeans made the situation worse.

[@patemblen3644]

Bullshit. Keep the biblical crap away from the truth.

[@marthacoomber3188]

I think if we were all responsible as citizens in an ecozone, for the health of that zone as our first priority of government as the ancient people did, we would heal in one generation. Use the principle and hone the practices. It's about changing how we live and relate to land. Maybe?

[@detlevdr.schultz4149]

is there a date to this film? can´t find one.

[@SLICE_Earth]

The film is from 2016 (it is written i the description)

[@terrybourke8834]

Mate, they are stations jn Straylla.

[@James-kv6kb]

I really get annoyed when people fall for this I'm a dumb Australian thing given to you by the media so you will be dumb and fall for all of their tricks Australians were never dumb people we had bad dress sense but we certainly weren't dumb stupid people. And we didn't all talk like Steve Irwin we had quite normal Australian accents.

[@rexochroy2]

It amazes me every time I see something like this, they still think they can farm the land!!! I suggest they look at the Paani Foundation in India. Although it has been tried in Australia with great success.

[@yapayzeka930]

Farming in desert is perfect idea

[@michaelsallee7534]

In proper grazing, you MUST rotate. 40 cows to 40 acres is insane some ranges may ought to know livestock for only a few days every year

[@preciousreading1934]

Australia must scope soil and heap up so the man made mountains and lakes are formed. Plant trees on man made mountain and let the dug up pits remain as lakes once filled with rain water that flows down the man made mountain. It is as simple as that to alter the climate and landscapes because the flow of the wind is zigzagged and its temperature is cooled in pits and hot air rushes in to the pit making pit air escaping along the ridges of the man made mountain with trees which will give rain or moist all over and at the surroundings. I like to see it achieved. The work must begin as soon as this comment idea is read, therefore. This idea is for all the countries in the world also.

[@m.j.debruin3041]

And they can use the remaining dirt from mining operations to start with.

[@tomfromoz8527]

Well, that's the start of an idea. Living in the wheatbelt of southern WA, our _soil_ here requires a jackhammer to dig *at all.* So at this point, we build raised beds on top, creating bio-diverse, healthy, living soil, in the hope that this will affect what's underneath in time. But as the old NY proverb says, "Time takes time." It can't happen overnight. Perhaps you should look to the open pit mines for those lakes, and find out where those greedy bastards dumped what they've taken out for your "mountains". Have you ever seen actual mountains from a distance in person? I think you can build hills, but a mountain requires Mother Nature, and Gaia to form. But hills will do the job. Food waste and green (and brown) waste will compost and create soil. There is no need to turn compost, except to accelerate the process. Look to the tip to find what you need until you can get people to do what's needed. All luck to you! *Pam* {Tom's wife}

[@kdegraa]

Burning over Millenia has gradually dried out Australia. As burning is no longer the preferred method of land management in many areas of Australia, these areas are greener and more full of life than ever. An area that is periodically mowed will gradually increase in fertility as the cut vegetation will rot away and build up the soil. A fire will release all energy and fertility into the air, never to return. Fire does release potassium into the food web which is important and the reason why vegetation grows quickly after fire. However there are better ways to release potassium into the environment.

[@kieranh2005]

Even better than mowing is animal impact. High density short duration grazing is preferred in regenerative agriculture.

[@lp76100]

plant trees...and there are many many experiences of people who have created paradise in desert

[@TheWildernessChannel]

I am no proponent of the whole climate change agenda, but I will say that the biggest climate change issue is human-caused desertification. If we tackled desertification in a meaningful way, using regenerative land management methods, we will have made huge strides in the fight against climate change and environmental destruction. The crisis is one of land mismanagement more than pollution due to carbon emissions.

[@fliss362]

Govt policy was to offer land which had to be cleared. It was a govt stipulation on the land. This went on for 150yrs til the mid ''70s. Desertification of the whole continent was well underway due to longterm weather changes which only made land clearing worse. There are still property developers subdividing beautiful lush areas on the East Coast today. Everyday. Climate change is only one factor in the destruction of Australia.

[@davidbird4021]

What would happen if coconut plants were planted, as they can handle sea water conditions?

[@lvesilva]

So many animals drying in the sun! 😮 Estes animais precisam ser levados para as ilhas, onde há riquezas abundantes de verde.😢 As the animals recover on the islands, this sad desert is transformed into the paradise it once was.

[@anthonywilliams-vx4cm]

Plant Bamboo... and Sweet Potato and Cassava and Corn and Cotton and Bananas and fruit trees like Mango Pommerac and Cocoa and Coffee etc.

[@marktanska6331]

I generally look at these programs with a pinch of salt. However, Google putting a climate warning increased the credibility hugely.

[@sheik9956]

lol good one !

[@kadmow]

yes hopefully satire... (that isn't lost on me -2 pinches of salt then)

[@James-kv6kb]

Google the one who is causing climate change by getting adults to purchase toys from they're biggest customer China

[@stoneclod71]

I missed the solutions in this video, there's more info in the comments, thank you to all who replied. There are many regenerative programs currently recovering the land, perhaps more on those would suit this title.

[@isee9273]

What would happen if we piped all of our sewerage into the unoccupied desert instead of the ocean?

[@andrewallen9993]

What puzzles the hell out of me of me is what in the middle of an extreme drought the fncking flies drink????

[@tinfoilhomer909]

"'Resilience'" there's that word Rose Koire warned us about

[@Do-not-be-sheep]

De-forestation by domestic goats is the root cause for most of the desertification in North Africa, West Asia, and southern Europe. In Brazil it's cows. In Australia it's feral rabbits and camels. There is an easy solution. There is a continent not far from Australia where protein is so difficult to find that people still eat dangerous bushmeat (Africa). Build meat processing plants to process the rabbits and camels and sell (or gift) the meat to Africa. This will reduce their numbers to a sustainable level

[@user-do1qn4pj4w]

Was Oz initially forest All cut down or burnt? Idk

[@James-kv6kb]

The Aborigines used to set fire to the landscape so that all the lizards and snakes and animals would come running towards them and then they would club them to death. Also when the new grasses came through it would attract kangaroos to areas where they often didn't hang around .the problem is they've been doing this for a hundred thousand years and the rainforests are now desserts . On top of that all the underground water is so low now because of the farmers, that it's useless to any of the trees so everything has gone bad

[@33mavboy]

Purposely cut down despite warnings, and people getting hurt trying to stop it from happening legally. Some believe the wildfires were created to force people out of certain living areas so they are more closely populated maybe for future projects its a conspiracy but firehoses were cut and you only have 1 of those on site miles from a station.

[@33mavboy]

Slash and burn is fine, its the cattle and camel creating solid soil that stops anything from growing and dams built stop a lot of rain from happening to break the soil up. But yeah the abos fucked up a lot of trees trying to get insects and lizards out and probably didn't control the fires like we do (or didn't in the massive bushfires)@@James-kv6kb

[@fredsmith4134]

we live with cyclic drought that always breaks ???

[@ichifish]

"300 of [Richard Kinnon's] cows died from starvation and thirst." No, Richard Kinnon made 300 animals suffer a cruel and inhumane death. He doesn't deserve to be a rancher, nor own the land he's destroyed.

[@pipfox7834]

But ranchers occur in the America's. Here we have graziers and pastoralists. Just so people know which continent we're talking about ;)

[@user-sc7fk5ys6x]

Good idea, let’s just legislate regular rainfall and jail anyone who disagrees. If anyone has a drought it’s their own fault. I can’t imagine what could go wrong under this policy.

[@James-kv6kb]

I think you need to grow up bloody vegans are starting to really annoy people go away

[@ichifish]

@user-sc7fk5ys6x His animals didn't die of thirst because there was a drought, they died of thirst first because he has too many animals on the land, and second because he didn't slaughter them. Those are two choices he made. I grew up on a farm; I know all about hard choices. You're the only one talking about legislation, so maybe you need to have a good think.

[@justinciallella4724]

He certainly doesn't appear to be starving

[@maxloewe9162]

Can we please have documentaries without constant music?

[@timkirkpatrick9155]

Australia is the Second desert continent after Antarctica. Many of those town in America are gone now. Scales of operation didn't support small producers. It is not England or Europe either!

[@MTNGear]

I'll tell you where the most environmental damage has happened. The cities. These places are far cleaner and more natural than the citys

[@zephyr3218]

In this documentary not once have I seen or heard about the application of "Permaculture", sad! Many bad scenes ARE reversible.

[@graemekeeley4497]

We are addicted to beliving the early Aboriginal way of living and sustaining life can be transferred to today's world It cannot from the founding population of 3000 that arrived in Australia roughly 45,000 years ago increasing to 20,000 it stayed below 20,000 for many millennia to peak at approximately 1.2 million people 500 years ago. That growth spurt was triggered by the arrival of the dingo from Asia some 4,000 years ago whose semi-domestication led to major cultural changes, combined with the adoption of new tools to adapt to changing hunting methods That simple imaginary way of life cannot be adopted by Australia with a current population of 26,638,544 To attempt it would leave the continent a barren burned-out wasteland devoid of animal life

[@phyroukann3764]

There are so much open spaces. The lands are so flat. This making me over joy with happiness. If I have the powers, I would create a pyramid sizes hills, and along with some artificial lakes, and a city sizes of many rings. Like that of the mystical atlantain type city, a rings within a rings. There would be a rings of lands, and along with a rings of waters. These are just my thoughts and desires. A dreams of a foolish dreamers.

[@roderickduracktully7496]

There is so many things that are exaggerated or just completely wrong in this doc .

[@henryjanicky4978]

China converted huge parts of desert into farming land ,but water must be supplied in big quantities, and the only way to do it is desolinasation, which must be done by nuclear energy, and we can create noe horizon in agriculture

[@YenneY01]

I agree, eat the camels and rabbits. Forget eating cows.

[@charlesjmouse]

A megaproject: The Australian interior is below sea level. So dig a canal to the interior.

[@dovh49]

I thought I saw a video where a farmer was using syntropic farming to combat this. He even had a pond.

[@SLICE_Earth]

Do you have the link? ☺️

[@dovh49]

@@SLICE_Earth It was this one: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rmOqaJuPiMutoZY And I think this one also: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n17ChWxsndybj8k Watching your video made me appreciate what these people are doing even more!

[@terrymcnee3568]

we all need to work together to regenerate just like some other countrys are

[@5969024]

The humankind need to learn How to terraforming the desert!

[@donaldnicol8415]

Midnight Oil had it figured out long before the govt noticed the Aboriginal way of surviving.

[@mickvonbornemann3824]

All the cattle in semi-arid regions should be replaced by feral camels. Compared with hard hoofed grass pulling cattle, feral camels do sweet FA damage with the soft feet & much more general diet.

[@jimmydickson8854]

What about water underneath the ground

[@jimgraham6722]

There is lots of that (artesian basin - see below) but these days it's use is carefully controlled to ensure sustainability. Also it does have significant mineral and salt content. Injudicious use can simply aggravate soil salination. Technology is being developed (eg using renewable energy) to desalinate and demineralise this water both assuring town water supplies and providing some scope for irrigated agriculture in places previously not possible. In future artesian water will play a much larger role. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Artesian_Basin

[@kieranh2005]

17:01 actually just over 1.5"

[@dominikcali6758]

I thought agriculture makes soil water lever lower. Why in Australia water lever raised?

[@yaddahaysmarmalite4059]

geology of the local region. life will always throw an exception to "the rules."

[@patemblen3644]

Grazing out the salt tolerant plants means the salty water rises.

[@jimgraham6722]

Ok this is straight forward. Australia was covered in trees. Their roots went down up to twenty metres. This typically holds the water table down to ten metres or so. When the trees are removed, the water table is no longer held down, so it rises. As it nears the top metre or so of soil, it begins to evaporate leaving behind any dissolved salts, hence salinated soils. Plants including trees won't grow in such soils so the problem if unaddressed gets worse and worse. The simple answer is to plant trees around the affected areas. It is also possible to fix salination by lowerimg the ground water by pumping it out.

[@James-kv6kb]

I was under the impression that the trees kept the salt down also creating more rain which possibly could be keeping the salt lower

[@GerardVaughan-qe7ml]

The Other "Bob" is Allan Savory ! kzbin.info/www/bejne/rKG3eZxthJtppqs

[@davidbutler99]

What about digging multiple crescent shaped bunds to collect water. Self regeneration.

[@jimgraham6722]

Has been tried.

[@kadmow]

There definitely are bad aspects of Australia's dry country management historically and in the present - BUT documentaries designed for activism are able to make it appear a whole lot worse- ie..cherry pick footage from; droughts - or drought stricken areas, overgrazed feedlots, then contrast with wonderfully curated "native wonderlands" demonstrating the end of the wet in the Tanami - or something... Australia before colonialism, civilisation and cultural diversification - or conquer, pillage, rape and plunder, however you look at it, was NOT a perfect larder of abundance and plenty across the length and breadth. "Indigenous" settlers - Nomads and unlanded, scarcely survived across much of the terrain (droughts existed then too) - the "dreaming" mapped the waterholes so an initiate may survive harsh times, though to others ("foreign" Natives indigent nations included) the wilderness was a place of scarcity and horror. - Just like in modern times, the bulk of the population was coastal - relying on fish, mussels and fresh water streams to water the garden crops...

[@hydrolifetech7911]

Says a colonialist/coloniser, whichever you are!

[@ericshingles]

@@hydrolifetech7911 your ignorant insult tells us which you are

[@calebalton2084]

​@@hydrolifetech7911such an intelligent reply. Your mother must be proud.

[@pipfox7834]

@kadmow and yet the Inland or Central Australia supported many hundreds in different tribal groups, if you read the diaries of the early explorers (available at any good library or online).

[@James-kv6kb]

It's always the ones that write the longest responses that talk the most crap now there are plenty of desert Aborigines ,type in western desert Aborigines if you'd like to see them in action . maybe a bit more content and a bit less looked at me I've just written this amazing thing lol

[@peterm.eggers520]

The solution was discovered by Allan Savory 50+ years ago in the African desert. . Gabe Brown has adapted those techniques to create a highly profitable system with the aid of university researchers to rapidly rebuild thriving ecologies all over the world.

[@jimgraham6722]

Let's hear it for 'excited trampling', Australia needs to introduce lions into the wild to chase the stock around..

[@peterm.eggers520]

@@jimgraham6722 Don't you think that dingos do enough "stock chasing"?

[@onebridge7231]

Camel meat is pretty good. Start a Camel burger business. A slice of Pineapple on it, Yum! 🤗

[@patemblen3644]

It;s the transport distances that make it difficult.

[@m.j.debruin3041]

I think they need some mountains .