The book reviews the environmental changes which have occurred in Australia since European settlement. It aims to give a well-balanced account of controversial issues, and to provide students with a sound technical understanding of the physical processes involved. It deals with all of Australia, including the Antarctic Territory. The book begins by reviewing the history of changing attitudes towards the natural environment in Australia, then discusses problems of quantitative assessment of environmental change. Five chapters deal with the major land uses - agriculture, forestry, mining, marine and coastal areas, and urbanisation. These set the current environmental issues within both an historical and an Australia-wide context, and review the processes causing environmental change. Each includes special case studies to illustrate broader principles, for example, dryland salinity in Western Australia, and forestry conflicts in Tasmania and New South Wales. The concluding chapter looks at ecological sustainability, using the Greenhouse effect as a case study of the relationship between scientific and political agenda.

There are over 70 figures, including 20 maps drawn specially for this work, and both colour and historical photographs.