Australia's Wildfire Crisis Linked to Colonial Land-Use Change

British colonisation, not just climate change, made Australia prone to bushfires

Colonisation led to fourfold increase in eucalyptus tree cover and transformed landscape from open woodland to forest

Professor blames colonisation for Australia's bushfires

The study, published on Thursday by the University of Melbourne, found long-term environmental shifts should not be blamed on climate change alone.

Australia's wildfire crisis linked to colonial land-use change

Research published today in Nature by University of Melbourne researchers, in collaboration with Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Corporation, reconstructed the past 1,000 years of vegetation, fire and erosion in Croajingolong National Park in East Gippsland, one of southeastern Australia's most fire-prone forests.

Colonisation, not climate change, first primed these forests to burn

Darrian Traynor, Getty Bushfire season is here. The Bureau of Meteorology expects the declared El Niño to be strong to very strong. Southeastern Australia is bracing for a long run of dangerous fire weather. Weather is only part of a catastrophic fire. Another factor is fuel – combustible vegetation. Our new research, published today, shows the current fuel load in some Australian forests is not “natural”. It is a product of colonisation, which …

Colonisation, not climate change, first primed these forests to burn

The Fifth Estate - Bushfire season is here. The Bureau of Meteorology expects the declared El Niño to be strong to very strong. Southeastern Australia is bracing for a long run of dangerous fire weather. Colonisation, not climate change, first primed these forests to burn is a story from The Fifth Estate, Australia's sustainability newspaper.