Australian freshwater algae

The genesis of this book lay in uranium mining, its continuation and completion in government or quasi-government agencies to do with the water supply of a nation. Freshwater algae have not fared well in the competition for taxonomic attention in the world's driest inhabited continent. About 25 years ago proposals to mine uranium at a number of sites in the catchment of the South Alligator River in tropical Australia led to the establishment of a Commission of Enquiry by the Australian Government. The region, adjacent to the large aboriginal territory of Arnhem Land, was sparsely inhabited and poorly studied. It is now a World Heritage Area and the natural bounty that makes it so was recognised then by the Commission of Enquiry. The report to government of that commission recommended a wide-ranging environmental and biological survey before mining commenced and the development of an ongoing monitoring programme to detect any deleterious effects of mining on a valued environment.