Australia's environmental challenges [special section]
Les défis environnementaux de l'Australie [section spéciale]
Ash, Caroline ; Lopez, Bianca ; Uzogara, Ekeoma E. ; Vignieri, Sacha
Australia is at a unique nexus of endemic biodiversity and 60,000-year-old human cultures that are adapted to the planet's most ancient and driest ecosystems. Over the past 200 years, the continent's special ecosystems and human societies have proved vulnerable to waves of immigration by Europeans, who brought with them their companion species and unsustainable activities. During this time, Australia has lost more species of mammal than any other continent. Although Australia is more sensitive to the dangers of invasive species than countries of many larger continents, these species have still wreaked appalling harm on its ecosystems and human economies. The historical record of dispossession and disenfranchisement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islands Peoples has denied them their role as environmental guardians and caretakers. Acute climate change, and the exclusion of Indigenous Peoples and their specific knowledge of land management, has led to extreme wildfire and flooding events, coral reef degradation, biodiversity loss, and the disproportionate suffering of Indigenous Peoples themselves from these hazards. All of this has occurred in a country with a total population roughly the size of that of Shanghai, China. In this special issue, we recognize Australia's exceptional exposure to the risks of climate change and ecosystem degradation. Meeting these challenges means redoubling efforts to find solutions, but Australia can offer valuable messages to the rest of the world, which is increasingly facing similar challenges. </p>
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