When I look at rural Australia today, I see a natural and human geography that is highly stressed. Despite the eastern rains this past summer, it is clear that the drought continues in the south, with many areas facing their worst conditions ever recorded.

The rice fields are empty across the Riverina, the Mallee is a desert and Adelaide is facing a future without water. Upstream through the Murry and into the Darling, Lachlan and Macquarie rivers the current situation is grim with a burst of water in the north the only good news in years.

It is clear that the water and associated land crisis is the number one issue facing the agricultural industries of the Eastern states. Outside of the southeastern drainage basins, the economic conditions are substantially better with mining and coastal agriculture booming in these high value commodity export times.

But in the traditional Murry Darling agriculture zone we are facing a crisis of water and land degradation that must be reversed if we are to see any long-term improvements in the natural productivity levels of these critical farming lands.

The scale of the problem requires a similar scale of response and I suggest we replant much of this basin with a variety of flora that will encourage the natural hydrological processes to be restored to a point where rainfall patterns across the southeast abate and we again see regular rains west of the Divide.

The project I propose is not limited to the Murry Darling Basins and can be applied across the south west of the continent and through the Northern Territory, which is facing its own critical flora issues.

The purpose of the rural stream at 2020 is obviously not just about farming, and other rural industry sectors will have much to say about the over emphasis in the rural debate on farming issues. And I agree that this is a problem that needs to be considered in our response to the challenges put before us.

Specifically I think the issue of land and water degradation goes far beyond its immediate impact on existing farms, and until we get a large scale reversal in land and water degradation we will not be able to adequately support the new industry sectors that are developing in regional and rural Australia.

To do this I propose that the Federal government establish "The Tree Corporation" which will oversee the largest reforestation program ever undertaken. Starting with our most marginal lands we can shift our non-profitable rural sectors out of traditional farming and into new public works programs of a scale not seen since the Snowy Mountains Scheme of the 1950s-70s.

The cost of this program could be met via existing programs and associated funding commitments that will build on current activities in a synergetic manner. There is much low lying fruit in the rural sector that can be leveraged to achieve significant outcomes for water, land and carbon demands.

As the program is developed it can be expanded into new areas of the East, but it is critical that the program not confront existing stakeholders with an either or not approach.

Instead we need to reach a point where farming communities in areas such as the Macquarie Marshes, The Mallee ask to be included.

However, in the highly marginal areas west of the Darling River and into the center of NSW there is urgent action needed on restoring the land and letting nature do its work over the coming decades.

A well-engineered approach to the problem based on solid science and a whole of nation public policy analysis will ensure that the program has every chance of being a successful response to the environmental issues facing the heartland of Australia"s farm economy.

The positive outcomes of this program are many and may include;

+ Land and water restoration

+ Industry Development - primary, secondary and tertiary sector

+ Full rural employment

+ Forestry and like resource supplies

+ Regional and rural center revitalization benefiting both existing and new residents

+ Major city population resettlement strategies.

+ Large scale carbon abatement

Solid science and economic modeling will support this proposal as a low cost high return response to climate change and rural economic transition.

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Related Links
Simon Mansfield Personal Site
Rural Australia at 2020 Summit
Forestry News - Global and Local News, Science and Application

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