Koala: Destruction Of Natural Habitat

Australia is the only country in the developed world that is now known as a ‘Deforestation Hotspot’. According to research by Noel D Preece and Penny Van Oosterzee (Scientist from James Cook University), Australia was recently ranked in the top 10 countries in the world for mass land clearing. Up until 2017 Australia had a law against land clearing to revegetate the land. In 2017 the NSW government run by Gladys Berejiklian weakened restrictions towards land clearing, whilst Queensland’s restrictions were weakened by the Liberal National government of Campbell Newman (2012-2014). The Sydney Morning Herald (June 28th, 2019) reported that land-clearing rates in NSW for farming jumped a third in the 2017-18 year alone and were up from 9700 hectares in 2014-15. These official figures come from the Office of Environment and Heritage and are the first since the Berejiklian government changed the law in 2017. Furthermore, in Queensland, ABC Fact Check (16th July 2018) says that in the absence of tougher laws 395,000ha of vegetation was lost in 2015-16, the highest since 2005-06. It’s estimated from the Australian Koala Foundation that after the land clearing laws were weakened 4,000 koalas die yearly. Due to land clearing 80% of koala’s environment has been destroyed leaving koalas without their environment. Every three generations of koala’s their population declines by 26%. Furthermore, in Queensland land clearing is having a different effect on the environment. In Queensland there are many rivers that flow onto the Great Barrier Reef. When there are trees near a river flow the roots hold down the soil below them allowing the river to consistently flow in one direction. Since the surge of land clearing in 2016 that removed large quantities of trees, causing dirt and pollution to go into the river flowing into the Great Barrier Reef. Ultimately, what occurs is the dirt and pollution creates sediment and covers the sea grass and coral causing it to die. Australia is creating affects through deforestation similar to what caused the Khmer empire to fall in the 15th century.

Deforestation is one of the reasons for the Khmer Empire’s downfall. According to the Ancient History Encyclopedia the Khmer empire at its peak had an estimated population of two million people. The nations territory spread out across modern day Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. The empire started in 802 CE and ended in the early 15th century. In the 700 years of Khmers existence they cleared large areas of forest land to make room for the empire which caused the effect of their downfall. According to the reports of Zhou Daguan “Angkor appears to have entered a period of decline. The elaborate system of water collection and distribution seems to have become less effective, possibly due in part to extended droughts. Heavy deforestation might have led to excessive erosion, clogging the Siem Reap river and canals with soil.” From ABC education. One of the successes to the Khmer empire was there “extensive” water system. Khmer relied on the water system for its entire empire to the extent where if it failed, they would as well. Due to their ‘heavy deforestation’ the erosion of the soil and changes to the environment affected the water system which eventually led to the collapse of the empire. The director of the University of Nevada Global Water Centre believes that, “A similar scale of challenge is now confronting contemporary communities, as the climate begins to change.”

Australia is starting to experience similar effects of deforestation that can be shown through the historic example of the Khmer empire. “Forest environments are not good ones for civilizations . . . because they require intensively manipulating the environment,” he said. “Angkor is the epitome of this, and it is going to be the model for how tropical civilizations are interpreted.” Khmer is a good example of modern civilizations as it demonstrates that if you start a nation in a forest environment it will eventually lead to problems. According to professor Dan Penny “The medieval Khmer were confronted with a period of climatic instability that they had no experience of, and which fully changed the rules of the game that they had been playing for hundreds of years.” This can be an example of a civilization that was around for several centuries and through their own actions they started to experience changes to their environment, which led to their downfall. Similarly, Australia’s actions, specifically deforestation have contributed to climate change. As NSW and QLD continue cutting down trees the effects are starting to become clear. Bush fires are commonly started in dry areas which is an effect of deforestation and damages the environment further. Using Khmer as a warning, we can see the mistakes they made which we are starting to repeat however if we don’t act soon, we could end up the same as Khmer and experience our own downfall.

I hope through this letter Australia will realise the effects of deforestation in the long run, shown through the Khmer empire, historic proof of the effects.