http://www.abc.net.au/science/photos/2012/11/21/3636626.htm
The human impact on the Great Victoria Desert is very
good. Due to the harsh climate and its
geographical isolation, the Great Victoria Desert has not been disturbed much
by humans aside from the original natives living in it. There is very little room in the Great
Victoria Desert for farming and grazing lands.
This has prevented the land from being disturbed and cleared. Some
mining has been occurring in the desert.
However, it has not at all caused any degradation in the environment. In
that regard, few people have settled in the Great Victoria Desert, and thus the
human disturbance has been kept to a minimum.
Furthermore, under the Australian Parliament, around 20% of the Great
Victoria Desert has been placed under conservation protection. The largest of these areas, the Unnamed
Conservation Park, covers around 21 thousand square kilometers and access to
these regions are extremely limited.
-http://worldwildlife.org/ecoregions/aa1305
However, not everything is all good with the Great Victoria
Desert, in the 1950s and 1960s, nuclear weapons testing were initiated in
regions near the Great Victoria Desert by the United Kingdom. These nuclear weapons tests resulted in
various sites in the desert to be contaminated by radiation. Of particular concern is plutonium-239 due to
its long half-life and possibility of contamination through inhalation. There have been attempts at a clean-up in
1996 and 1999 but the effects of the country’s efforts are debatable. Indirectly, the roads that were built to
access the test sites can be used by off-road vehicles and lead to further
erosion of the land.
-http://www.eoearth.org/article/Great_Victoria_desert?topic=74361
http://www.environment.gov.au/land/publications/acris/pubs/bioregion-great-victoria-desert.pdf
http://www.dec.wa.gov.au/pdf/science/bio_audit/great_victoria_desert01_p343-350.pdf
Most alarming, however, is the introduction of non-native
species to the desert. Australia as a
whole has been continuously plagued by these feral animals and the Great
Victoria Desert is no exception. Of
particular concern are the infamous rabbits of Australia, who continuously eat
away all of the native vegetation and reproduce constantly. Also included are mice, wild dogs, feral
cats, and foxes. The isolated natural
wildlife of the desert has few countermeasures against these invasive species
and with no natural predators, these animals are essentially free to do what
they wish.
-http://www.environment.gov.au/land/publications/acris/pubs/bioregion-great-victoria-desert.pdf
-http://www.eoearth.org/article/Great_Victoria_desert?topic=74361