Perhaps the most important, and most difficult, tasks we face are how best to shape the next generation through our roles as teachers and parents. These have always been demanding tasks as we must be involved both with the present and the future.
The future of our children and of our society no longer rests entirely in our hands. The quality of their lives and the security of their futures will be at least influenced by forces outside Australia. Setting aside the diminishing probability of nuclear catastrophe, the cumulative impacts of the growth of the human population and its rapidly increasing demands on the biosphere have ensured that our children and their descendants will face a world that will be significantly different from that of today.
How fast is the world changing as a result of human action?
What will be the consequences of such changes for the ability of planet Earth to sustain the demands of our species?
Will these demands so impoverish the planet of other species that our lives will become diminished, or disturb the great Earth systems such that life itself will become unsustainable?
These are the important questions facing all who are concerned about the world our children will inherit; all who are interested in the future of humanity.
Where can we look for answers to these questions?
The forefront of our changing world - the place where change is most obvious and most significant - is on the land. Although changes in the marine environment will also have dramatic effects, it is on land - especially in the vegetation and soils, the landcover of the planet - that global change will have greatest impact.
In this book, written in celebration of International Space Year, the vantage point of space was used to examine changes in the landcover of the Australian continent during the last twenty years. The landcover changes have been separated into those resulting from climate or from landuse, and interpreted as favourable or degrading. This is an exciting and engaging book. It provides the reader with a sweeping understanding of the dynamic face of the Australian continent. The overview of our country from space will encourage us to value the land that materially and spiritually supports all of us.
It is very pleasing that the Space Agency Forum on International Space Year entrusted CSIRO with leadership of this important task, and that this confidence was shared by the Australian Government, which has co-sponsored the effort through the Australian Space Office.
This book is just one step on the long, never ending road of nurturing the next generation. Documenting landcover change from space by itself won't make the future of our children more secure. Nevertheless, it will give our generation fewer excuses for not making wise decisions now, and give better guidance to which questions need answering and which problems need solving. This book will help us all in the task of preparing for the future.
Adrienne E Clarke
Chairman, CSIRO.
1992
