Turtle Dreaming

For thousands of years the Indigenous people of Australia, some who live on the shores of Lake Alexandrina in South Australia, are stewards of this lake, its creatures and the lake’s water once remained healthy and clean. At times the lake was saline when the ocean waters pushed their way into it yet at other times the water in the lake was fresh as melting snows fed the river that empties into the lake. But as irrigation along the length of the Murray River has continued to expand very little of this fresh water now manages to reach the lake. Drought has also contributed to its decline. Whenever the lake dries up, the creatures which once thrived, struggle to survive in the putrid and hypersaline waters while the shoreline transforms into burning acidic mud.

Even though improved water management processes have been established the threat of drought and unsustainable irrigation still looms and the creatures which rely on this vulnerable resource continue to be a risk.

This story highlights the work of Roots & Shoots and Dr Jane Goodall.