Introduction

Why the Division is so special

With just 52,000 people occupying an area that is approximately 40% of the state, the Western Division of New South Wales is a sparsely populated, vast and often dry tract of land.

Its environment is special because the native plants and animals can survive long periods without water and then flourish in response to infrequent but sometimes flooding rains. However, water and wind readily remove soils, nutrients and seeds from over-grazed land. Grazing practices, especially maintaining stock numbers during drought, have caused land degradation in the past and continuing development of waterpoints threatens the survival of those native species that decline on grazed land. No one wants this to continue and management must be in sympathy with these environmental constraints if land use is to be sustainable.

The society of the Western Division is also unique. Leasehold pastoralism is the dominant land use by area, but the minerals industry, Aboriginal people, conservationists, and tourism operators all have a stake in the land. Land use is governed by the Western Lands Act, which is specific to the Division, as well as a raft of state-wide laws. Legal complexity and contradictions confuse stakeholders and officials alike. Social networks are declining with leaseholders becoming increasingly isolated. Aboriginal culture is weakened by lack of connection to the land that once sustained it. This generates conflict between stakeholders over access to land and existing processes for resolving such issues are ineffective.

The economy of the Division must adapt to rapidly changing technology and markets. It is not well placed to meet these challenges, with complex and outdated laws, and multiple state agencies and community committees each with competing agendas and over-lapping functions. A declining and ageing workforce, reduced community and business services, high unemployment, low profitability and high debt among pastoral enterprises further constrain adaptation.

Is current land use sustainable

People in the Division hold a range of views about what sustainability means, especially how land use can contribute to it. Resolving these differences is a necessary part of moving toward social cohesion and developing the joint vision of the future that is necessary for regional sustainability. A useful target that combines many of these views is, that the development of a region will only be sustainable if environmental, social, and economic systems persist indefinitely without degradation of land and water resources, reduction of options for future generations, or decline in human welfare.