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Salinity is increasing across Australia. It is already having a significant impact on the environment, the quality of inland waters, civil infrastructure and agricultural production.

In the ABS 2002 Land Management and Salinity Survey, 1,969,000 hectares (ha) of agricultural land in Australia were identified as showing signs of salinity. Of these, 821,000 ha were so affected as to be unusable for agricultural production.

Although the area of land currently affected by salinity in Queensland is less than in most other states, a report by the State of the Environment Advisory Council in 2002 predicted that the affected area could increase significantly in the next 50 years (footnote 1).

This article analyses the salinity problem in relation to Queensland agriculture, providing comparisons with other Australian states and territories. Links to further information on the topic are provided at the bottom of the article.

WHAT IS SALINITY?
SALINITY IN QUEENSLAND
COMPARISON OF DATA FROM DIFFERENT SURVEYS
FURTHER INFORMATION
DEFINITION OF TERMS

WHAT IS SALINITY?

Salinity is the term used to describe the salt content of soil or water. While soluble salts are often naturally found in water and soil, the concentrations are usually not high enough to produce negative consequences for the environment, for flora and fauna, and for people.

The problem occurs when the levels of underground water-tables rise and these naturally occurring salts remain on the surface in increased amounts after the water evaporates. The resulting concentrations of the salts can then be sufficiently high to be toxic to most plants, which in turn impacts on the rest of the environment.

There are two types of salinity, Dryland salinity and Irrigation salinity (footnote 1).

Salinity is exacerbated by human activity such as agriculture. Contributing factors include excessive land clearance and large scale planting of pasture and crops that use relatively little water. Salinity has also increased as a result of recent land use changes. Some of the causes of salinity originated over 100 years ago and therefore are difficult to repair easily (footnote 2).

SALINITY IN QUEENSLAND

In 2002, Queensland had approximately 107,000 hectares or 0.1% of agricultural land showing signs of salinity, 37.4% of which was unable to be used for agricultural production.

The area of salinity affected land in Queensland, in hectares and as a percentage of all agricultural land, is considerably lower than most other states and territories. However, in 2001 the National Land and Water Resource Audit predicted that, by the year 2050, under current use, the affected area will have increased significantly (footnote 2).
Queensland is a partner with the Australian Government and the other states and territories in the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality (NAP). This plan supports land management actions by regional communities and land-holders in the catchments highly affected by salinity.

Of the 21 priority regions identified by the NAP for the management of salinity, four affect Queensland. These four regions are: Burdekin Fitzroy, Lockyer-Burnett-Mary, Border Rivers, and Condamine-Balonne-Maranoa. The regions of Border Rivers and Condamine-Balonne-Maranoa are also part of New South Wales.


ABS LAND MANAGEMENT AND SALINITY SURVEY, 2002, QUEENSLAND

In 2002, Queensland had 993 farms and 107,000 ha of agricultural land showing signs of salinity representing 3.4% of the state's farms and 0.1% of the state's agricultural land. This included 102,000 ha of non-irrigated farmland and 5,000 ha of irrigated farmland.

These figures compare favourably with those from other states, with only Tasmania and the Northern Territory having less agricultural land showing signs of salinity. As shown in the summary by state below, Queensland had the fifth largest area of agricultural land and the sixth largest percentage of agricultural land showing signs of salinity.

A total of 40,000 ha of land in Queensland was unable to be used as a result of salinity. This represented 37.4% of the land which showed signs of salinity, but only a negligible percentage of the state's total agricultural land (less than 0.01%).

LAND SHOWING SIGNS OF SALINITY - SUMMARY BY STATE(a)
	Farms with land showing signs of salinity	Proportion of total farms in state(b)	Land showing signs of salinity	Proportion of total farm area in state(c)	Salinised land unable to be used for production
State	no	%	'000 ha	%	'000 ha
NSW/ACT	3,108	7.4	124	0.2	44
Vic.	4,834	13.7	139	1.1	60
Qld	993	3.4	107	0.1	40
SA	3,328	21.6	*350	0.6	105
WA	6,918	51.3	1,241	1.1	567
Tas.	390	9.1	6	0.3	2
NT	8	2.0	2	-	2
Total Australia	19,579	13.9	1,969	0.4	821
(a) The ABS conducted the Land Management and Salinity Survey in May 2002. This collection was targeted at the population of farm establishments which had indicated in the 2001 Agricultural Census that they had land affected by salinity or used salinity management strategies. The survey results are based on a sample of about 20,000 farm establishments and the results were weighted to cover the full population. Care should be taken in the interpretation of the data, particularly for items with high relative standard errors (RSE). For further information on these, refer to: Salinity on Australian Farms, 2002 (cat. no. 4615.0). (b) Farms with land showing signs of salinity as a proportion of total farms in the state/territory/Australia. Source for the denominator is data from the ABS 2001 Agricultural Census. (c) Land showing signs of salinity as a proportion of total farm land in the state/territory/Australia. Source for the denominator is data from the ABS 2001 Agricultural Census. * The relative standard error of this estimate exceeds 25%. Figures should be used with caution. Source: Salinity on Australian Farms, 2002 (cat. no. 4615.0).

LAND SHOWING SIGNS OF SALINITY - FARMS IN QUEENSLAND NAP REGIONS(a)
	Irrigated farms				Non-irrigated farms
	Farms with land showing signs of salinity	Proportion of total irrigated farms in region	Land showing signs of salinity		Farms with land showing signs of salinity	Proportion of total non-irrigated farms in region	Land showing signs of salinity
NAP region	no.	%	'000 ha		no.	%	'000 ha
Border Rivers(b)	*13	1.7	na		*137	5.0	na
Burdekin-Fitzroy	*56	4.0	1		*96	3.0	**35
Condamine-Balonne-Maranoa(b)	*13	1.2	*1		*132	2.6	*28
Lockyer-Burnett- Mary	87	3.3	1		168	3.8	*1
(a) The ABS conducted the Land Management and Salinity Survey in May 2002. This collection was targeted at the population of farm establishments which had indicated in the 2001 Agricultural Census that they had land affected by salinity or used salinity management strategies. The survey results are based on a sample of about 20,000 farm establishments and the results were weighted to cover the full population. Care should be taken in the interpretation of the data, particularly for items with high relative standard errors (RSE). For further information on these, refer to: Salinity on Australian Farms, 2002 (cat. no. 4615.0). (b) Includes part of NSW * The relative standard error of this estimate exceeds 25%. Figures should be used with caution. ** The relative standard error of this estimate exceeds 50%. This estimate is so unreliable that it is not useful for most purposes. Source: Salinity on Australian Farms, 2002 (cat. no. 4615.0).

SALINITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES BY STATE(a)(b)
	Crops, pastures and fodder plants	Trees	Land fenced from grazing	Earthworks
State	'000 ha	'000 ha	'000 ha	'000 km
NSW/ACT	1,096	91	17	43
Vic.	*680	40	40	37
Qld	331	126	*27	15
SA	452	14	29	*13
WA	633	500	352	98
Tas.	*7	5	1	*3
NT	*6	-	-	-
Total Australia	3,205	776	466	208
(a) The ABS conducted the Land Management and Salinity Survey in May 2002. This collection was targeted at the population of farm establishments which had indicated in the 2001 Agricultural Census that they had land affected by salinity or used salinity management strategies. The survey results are based on a sample of about 20,000 farm establishments and the results were weighted to cover the full population. Care should be taken in the interpretation of the data, particularly for items with high relative standard errors (RSE). For further information on these, refer to: Salinity on Australian Farms, 2002 (cat. no. 4615.0). (b) Any land management practice undertaken wholly or partly for the management or prevention of salinity * The relative standard error of this estimate exceeds 25%. Figures should be used with caution. Source: Salinity on Australian Farms, 2002 (cat. no. 4615.0).

AREA AFFECTED BY SALINITY, COMPARISON OF SURVEY RESULTS WITH OTHER ESTIMATES
	PMSEIC 1999	NLWRA 2001	ABS 2002
	Area of salinity affected land (a)	Area at risk of salinity (b)	Area showing signs of salinity(c)
State	'000 ha	'000 ha	'000 ha
NSW/ACT	120	181	124
Vic.	120	670	139
Qld	10	na	106
SA	402	390	*350
WA	1,802	4,363	1,241
Tas.	20	54	6
NT	-	-	2
Total Australia	2,476	5,658	1,969
(a) As determined by experts. (b) As estimated from water table heights. (c) As reported by farmers. * The relative standard error of this estimate exceeds 25%. Figures should be used with caution. Note: The ABS conducted the Land Management and Salinity Survey in May 2002. This collection was targeted at the population of farm establishments which had indicated in the 2001 Agricultural Census that they had land affected by salinity or used salinity management strategies. The survey results are based on a sample of about 20,000 farm establishments and the results were weighted to cover the full population. Care should be taken in the interpretation of the data, particularly for items with high relative standard errors (RSE). For further information on these, refer to: Salinity on Australian Farms, 2002 (cat. no. 4615.0). Source: Salinity on Australian Farms, 2002 (cat. no. 4615.0).

• Measuring Environmental Pressures and Challenges, under: Media Releases/February 2003/ 21 Feb 2003 Environment by Numbers: Selected Articles on Australia's Environment, 2003 (cat.no. 4617.0)

• Selected Articles on Australia's Environment, 2003 (cat.no. 4617.0)

• The Headline Indicators Measuring Australia's Progress - Land degradation

• Environment Australia's Environment, Issues and Trends 2001