Towards developing a geoscientific approach to sustainable agricultural and rural development

 Conventional practices employed to achieve sustainable agricultural and rural development (SARD) tend to be subjective, focus on effects rather than causes, and have little diagnostic or predictive value. Consequently, many of the management options and solutions adopted to restore degraded natural resources are, often, economically unviable and environmentally unsustainable. These shortcomings are believed to be caused, partly, by overlooking or insufficiently recognizing the role and importance of geology to SARD. This paper demonstrates that geology is the most critical factor in the genesis of biophysical resources and in determining sustainability of agricultural and rural development. A case study from Australia shows how geological principles can be employed to obtain goals of ecological sustainability. A geologically-based model for cold temperate regions is provided to assist resource users and managers in understanding and predicting the genetic influence of geology on the inherent potential, constraint and resilience of the biophysical resources. Received: 7 January 2000 · Accepted: 23 May 2000