Supplementary comments on "Earthbeat" interview on salinity
David Pannell, University of Western Australia
If you are seriously interested in this issue, please read the other full papers presented in SEA News #6. It is impossible to do the topic justice in a 10 minute interview. However there is, no doubt, something about an interview that you don’t get from a paper. To help make sure it is accurate as well as entertaining, here are a few points I would make about the interview.
Throughout the interview I refer to "trees". Please interpret this as shorthand for "perennial trees, shrubs and pastures".
I have been taken to task by Simon Nield for my usage of the term "local aquifers". He says they should more correctly be termed "local flow systems".
In response to the question at the end about flooding, it would have been good if I had also said that development of profitable new perennials will make it more likely that it is worthwhile investing to prevent floods. This approach clearly has benefits both from a private farmer perspective and a public policy perspective.
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