Battle of the bushes

The Land

IN the past 50 years, the South Pacific region has experienced major envi ronmental upheaval and now faces continual pressure from population growth and primary industries, such as logging, mining and agricultural activi ties.

With the growing awareness of the consequences of environmental exploitation such as soil degradation, habitat loss and climatic changes, it has become paramount that action is taken.

On a global level these problems often seem overwhelming, with the responsibility lying in the hands of gov ernment authorities and multinational corporations.

However on a grassroots level there are many ways in which individually and communally we make positive envi ronmental contributions. One of the most important ways in which we can

contribute is to protect and encourage our local indigenous environment.

With the process of development, numerous exotic and invasive species have been introduced into indigenous environments. These in the long term have had, in many instances, an extremely destructive effect on local habitats for both plant and animal life.

Indigenous gardens provide habitat for local and migratory animal species, where foreign plants collectively do not provide the correct structure for a com plicated food web or the viable ecosys tem upon which many local insects, birds, and animal species are dependent.

As a result exotic gardens are often devoid of animal life.

Within a native environment individ ual plants grow in relation to each other, as threads in a tapestry, weaving to form a whole picture. There is a visible order

and balance as if there is a collective consciousness amongst them which leads to a visible harmony and the evo lution of a plant and animal community.

This holistic sense does not appear only amongst the indigenous plants but between plants and their relationship with the environment in which they grow.

Native plants echo the qualities of the land in which they grow. There is a sen suality about vegetation which reflects the physical and from which it grows as the shapes and forms and colours of plants and trees and rocks reflect one another.

The dense greens and greys of the rainforest plants of the Pacific islands reflect the rich soils and cool rocks of the forest floor, and the splashes of vibrant colour are reflected in both the flowers of plant species and feathers of

bird species living therein. On the con trary, exotic species, without constant shaping and maintenance collide and entangle.

There is no sense of continuity but of foreign and varied natural environment and therefore their natural predators often grow uncontrollably, out compet ing native species and becoming weeds.

Weed-infested areas become an impenetrable mass and biodiversity is often diminished to the point where only the predominant weed species survives.

Another major problem with exotic gardens is that in being introduced they have different requirements to that which the environment is naturally pro viding so they require added inputs such as constant watering, fertilising and insectisiding.

Grass lawns are a classic example of environmentally destructive or con sumptive spaces. They produce nothing, are ecologically sterile yet require con stant maintenance through mowing, fer

tilising, watering and insectisiding.

During the so called green revolution in the 1970 s the World Bank and other authorities encouraged and sponsored the use of chemicals to increase crop yields through the Developing World, including the South Pacific.

Chemicals such as DDT and super phosphate were pushed by multination als as magical formula for success. We have since learnt that those chemical additives are highly destructive with phosphates entering rivers and streams causing weed infestations.

Pesticides such as DDT build up in the food chain and have led to deformi ties in both human and other species.

These chemicals also change the nature of the soil and lead to its infertility on the longer term.

Many small farmers have laid out large amounts of money to buy chemi cals from foreign companies only to find that they become dependent on them as soil fertility declines and pest species

increase by the practice of monoculture and disturbance to the natural ecosytem.

By composting and mulching, the need for undesirable chemicals is dimin ished, sustainable farming techniques replacing the energy taken from the sys tem.

Therefore it is becoming more evi dent that monoculture agricultural sys tems are non sustainable and antiquated, for they are requiring more inputs of energy than they return, thus failing the golden rule of a successful natural sys tem. The aim of a successful farm or garden is to create an environment that is self-sustaining whereby outputs do not exceed inputs.

With increasing population pressure it is no longer possible to practise shift ing agriculture bt merely slashing and burning new ground when the old plot becomes infertile. The aim must be to conserve forests and work with the land now farmed but in such a way that it is always improving. A