Conservation

Knowledge is power - said Francis Bacon, so why aren't we using it? Today I will be talking about why we need to be utilizing indigenous Australians' knowledge on conservation and how colonization has affected Australia today. I believe that we should be working with indigenous Australians on conserving Australia's natural resources and environments. This is due to their extensive knowledge in connection with the land, the state of our environment today, and the bleak future up ahead.

My first point is that indigenous people have used conservation techniques in Australia in order to maintain the land. Indigenous people lived in Australia for 65 thousand years , During that there were no environmental issues in Australia, that all began with white settlement in 1788 when the first fleet came. Indigenous people had the knowledge of how to care for the land. Large bush fires were avoided by lighting much smaller regular fires; these fires helped to encourage the regrowth and regeneration for the land. Indigenous people adopted a nomadic lifestyle where they would hunt and gather in one place for a period of time and then eventually move to a new place to hunt and gather this allowed the land and the animals to replenish itself. So we can not only learn how indigenous people took care of the land in the past but we can actually use these techniques in today's modern world.

My second point is Australia's environment today. The changes we see in Australia's environment today were brought about by European settlement. Once an untouched wilderness now entire landscapes have been made into towns, cities, farms and roads. These changes have had negative impacts on Australia's environment. Over time there has been a significant change in landscape ecology. Many studies have shown the rapid decline in ecosystems and species. Statics from the Australian museum state that over the past 200 years we have lost 75% percent of rain forest and nearly 50% of all forest, over 60% of coastal wetlands and mallee, more than 99% of south east australia's temperate lowland grasslands, about 95% of brigalow scrub that originally grew in queensland and 90% of victoria's grasslands .This would be a contributing  factor to the loss of species. In march  2021 the Australian government added 13 new species to the list of extinct animals. If instead we listened to indigenous people we could start taking steps to improve our current environment and to ensure a livable environment going into the future.

My third point is the future. Taking care of, and preserving the environment is crucial to the future and future generations. With the current decline in our environment what future can we see? Well here's what experts are saying. Accggording to the, my climate tool 2050 , we should expect longer and hotter temperatures during summer due to the increase in temperature by an average of 2.32 degrees celsius. A rise in temperature will worsen air pollution , sea levels will continue to rise and there will be an increase in coral bleaching. This is just the beginning and from here it will only continue to worsen unless we take action now. By using indigenous methods such as burning controlled fires to allow the regrowth of land and preventing large bush fires , only taking what we need, not letting anything go to waste making sure everything is repurposed ,these are just some things we can do now so there is still a future.

In conclusion, In order to better our environment we need to use and apply indigenous conservation methods in today's society. With indigenous peoples vast knowledge of the land and knowing how to preserve it, knowing what our environment is like today and its rapid decline and the eerie future of little to no resources that has been predicted if we don't take the necessary action. Indigenous people have the knowledge all we need to do is work together to use it. Conservation is life.