A native at home and abroad: the history, politics, ethics and aesthetics of acacias

Abstract

Aim Anthropogenic introductions of Australian Acacia spp. that become classed as alien invasive species have consequences besides the physical, spatial and ecological: there are also cultural, ethical and political considerations that demand attention from scholars in the humanities and social sciences. As practitioners in these disciplines, our aim is to reflect upon some of the social and conceptual ideas and attitudes relating to the spread of Australian Acacia spp. around the world. We therefore provide a longer-term historical and philosophical perspective using South Africa as a key example. We explain some of the cultural aspects of Australian acacias, relating them to history, philosophy and societal ideas that were once, or indeed remain, important, either regarding their exportation from Australia or their importation into other countries. Focussing principally on South Africa and Australia but including brief references to other locations, we augment the literature by making connections between acacia introductions and environmental ethics and aesthetics, national and environmental history and symbolic and other discourses. We evaluate a number of the cultural and philosophical dimensions of invasion biology as a societal response and explicate the interesting contradiction of Australian acacia introductions as simultaneously economically valuable and environmentally transformative in South Africa.Location South Africa, Australia, with references to other parts of the world.Methods This paper has been written by an interdisciplinary team (two historians, two geographers, a philosopher and an ecologist) and is conceptual and historical, conforming in language and structure to the humanities style. It relies on published and unpublished literature from this disciplinary domain and the critical evaluation of these sources.Results Many Acacia spp. from Australia have been introduced around the world, generally guided in different eras by a variety of overarching mindsets, including the colonial ethos of 'improvement' (1800s to mid 1900s), an economically driven mindset of 'national development ' (1900s), by a people-centred frame combining concerns of environment and livelihood in 'sustainable development ' (1980s onwards), and an aesthetic ethos of ornamental planting that surfaces in all periods. The newest ethos of controlling or managing alien invasive species, a normative attitude deriving from the burgeoning of invasion biology, has more recently shaped the ideology of these plant exchanges and sharpened the focus on species that may be simultaneously both weeds and commercially valuable crops. Our perspective from the humanities and social sciences calls for a more transparent approach that clearly acknowledges such contradictions.Main conclusions We conclude that the global experiment of human-mediated Australian acacia introductions raises a number of issues that reflect changing societal concerns and demand attention from scholars in disciplines apart from

L'introduction d'acacias australiens pour réhabiliter des écosystèmes dégradés est-elle dépourvue de risques environnementaux ?

“…Introduits à partir du XIX e siècle pour stabiliser les dunes côtières, la production de tannins et de fibres (CARRUTHERS et al, 2011), ces acacias ont coûté à l'État sud-africain 0,6 milliard de dollars US pour remédier aux altérations induites par cet arbre exotique sur les ressources en eau et sur les caractéristiques physiques et chimiques des sols ( VAN WILGEN et al, 2011). Ce processus d'invasion a augmenté de 40 % au cours des quinze dernières années.…”

“…De plus, plusieurs espèces d'Acacia présentent la capacité, rare chez les Fabaceae, de cumuler ces deux types de symbiose avec la symbiose ectomycorhizienne. À titre d'exemple, les acacias ont été introduits en Afrique du Sud et en Afrique du Nord à partir des années 1840 et 1870 (POYNTON, 2009 ;CARRUTHERS et al, 2011), respectivement, afin de limiter les processus d'érosion éolienne et hydrique. La capacité d'A.…”

Stakeholder Perceptions of an Ecosystem Services Approach to Clearing Invasive Alien Plants on Private Land

“…Finally, landowners who expected the government to accept greater responsibility tended to refer to the state's historic role in the introduction and spread of IAPs (Carruthers et al 2011). Since the state played a strong role in introducing IAPs, these landowners tend to believe the current government should accept a greater portion of the responsibility for removing the species once they become a problem.…”

Forest transitions: a new conceptual scheme

“…This is particularly clear in terms of how non-native forest trees have been thought about in different regional and historical contexts. For instance, attitudes towards Australian acacias in receiving countries varied from ideas focussed on improving and enhancing the forest flora -particularly in drier, open landscapes like South Africa or Algeria -to a more economic ethos centred on industrial development and later to competing sets of ethos focussed on either livelihoods, aesthetics, or the threat to native species (Carruthers et al, 2011). Similarly, Starfinger et al (2003) document how evolving perceptions of the value or disutility of black cherry in Germany motivated management strategies much more than any empirical evidence ever did.…”

“…In particular, post-Apartheid policies enshrined new approaches to scarce water resources, biodiversity protection, and poverty eradication that led to strict controls on continued commercial wattle plantations as well as major control efforts targeting invasive stands of wattles. The latter included rural job-creation weed-cutting programs as well as the release of biological control agents like insects and pathogens (Carruthers et al, 2011;van Wilgen et al, 2001).…”