Download or read book Murray Darling Basin Australia written by Barry Hart and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2020-10-23 with total page 470 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Murray-Darling Basin, Australia: Its Future Management is a much-needed text for water resources managers, water, catchment, estuarine and coastal scientists, and aquatic ecologists. The book first provides a summary of the Murray-Darling River system: its hydrology, water-related ecological assets, land uses (particularly irrigation), and its rural and regional communities; and management within the Basin, including catchments and natural resources, water resources, irrigation, environment, and monitoring and evaluation. Additionally, the recent major water reforms in the Basin are discussed, with a focus particularly on the development and implementation of the Basin Plan. Murray-Darling Basin, Australia: Its Future Management then provides an analysis of the next set of policy and institutional reforms (environmental, social, cultural and economic) needed to ensure the Basin is managed as an integrated system (including its water resources, catchment and estuary) capable of adapting to future changes. Six major challenges facing the Basin are identified and discussed, particularly within the context of predicted changes to the climate leading to an increased frequency of drought and a hotter and dryer future. Finally, a ‘road map’ or ‘blueprint’ to achieve more integrated management of the Basin is provided, together with some ‘key lessons’ of relevance to others involved in the management of multijurisdictional river Basins. Provides a consolidated account of the Murray-Darling Basin system; an area of global relevance to those interested in rebalancing river systems where the water resources have been over allocated Offers a detailed analysis of the current system and its management, with a focus on water and ecosystem management Discusses a number of key challenges, particularly those related to climate change, facing future reforms to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan Provides a blueprint for changes needed to ensure the Basin is managed as an integrated whole (from catchment to coast)

Download or read book The Wetland Book written by C. Max Finlayson and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-07-04 with total page 1546 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In discussion with Ramsar’s Max Finlayson and Nick Davidson, and several members of the Society of Wetland Scientists, Springer is proposing the development of a new Encyclopedia of Wetlands, a comprehensive resource aimed at supporting the trans- and multidisciplinary research and practice which is inherent to this field. Aware both that wetlands research is on the rise and that researchers and students are often working or learning across several disciplines, we are proposing a readily accessible online and print reference which will be the first port of call on key concepts in wetlands science and management. This easy-to-follow reference will allow multidisciplinary teams and transdisciplinary individuals to look up terms, access further details, read overviews on key issues and navigate to key articles selected by experts.

Download or read book Environmental Flows in the Murray Darling Basin written by Vinoli Thampapillai and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Murray Darling Basin (MDB) is a major irrigated agricultural region known as the food bowl of Australia. Over-allocation of water rights to irrigation in the MDB has mimicked a tragedy of the commons and has led to the degradation of the ecosystem of rivers in the basin. Competition between environment and agriculture is at the heart of the problem. As water in the river systems is semicommon, where private and common rights coexist and interact due to the fluid nature of the resource, employing an exclusion strategy is difficult. Hence governance is central to the management of the river system to ensure ecosystem resilience. The key governance solutions to this problem employed by the Commonwealth government are the use of the water market to reconfigure water from irrigation to the environment, and use of the Federal Water Act 2007 to harmonize water planning across the transboundary river system which extends over four states and one territory. There exists ongoing disappointment in current market based, legal and institutional policy in the Murray Darling Basin articulated by irrigators and State governments. Significant resistance to the government water buyback program has been expressed by irrigators and the upstream state governments. The governments of Queensland and New South Wales waited until February 2014 to sign the agreement for implementation of the MDB Plan which entered into effect in November 2012. Agreement was secured after the Federal government agreed to legislate to cap buybacks at 1500 GL. As of February 2014, 1200 GL (long term average) of the 2750 GL required for the environment has been acquired by government due to resistance by upstream states and irrigators. There is an absence of comprehensive treatment of the water governance problem. Therefore this research examines the limitations of the water market, water law and public institutions to address the identified problem in the MDB. A combination international comparative water law, a qualitative survey of 41 irrigators, conducted across four jurisdictions of the MDB, documentary analysis is employed in the research, viewed through the lens of New Institutional Economics. This dissertation is concerned with two central research questions pertaining to water governance structures for addressing over-allocation and the delivery of environmental flows to build ecosystem resilience in the Murray Darling river system. The research questions are articulated as follows: (i) What are the limits of market based water governance expressed as water buybacks, as a means of reconfiguring private water rights toward environmental flows in the Murray Darling river system for building ecosystem resilience? (ii) Which public institutional and legal reforms are necessary to resolve the conflict between environmental and socio-economic uses of the Murray Darling river system in order to maintain ecosystem resilience? The analysis of the research highlights three central limits to the use of water markets for the reconfiguration and efficient management of environmental flows by the Commonwealth Enviromnental Holder. Through examination of bounded rationality articulated in New Institutional Economics Theory, three interrelated limits were identified namely, the endowment effect, free rider effect, and lack of a transition economy to overcome the contraction of the rural economy caused by reduction of irrigation activity. This dissertation is one of the few to demonstrate the presence of an endowment effect in the real world setting, outside an experimental setting. The endowment effect refers to the initial assignment of property, the effect of which has been shown to place a limitation on trading activity in numerous contexts. This occurs because the willingness to accept (WT A) payment to relinquish property owned, far exceeds the willingness to pay (WTP) to acquire the same property. The endowment effect tied to the free rider effect can be addressed by a sustainable rural economic transition strategy. Lack of viable, alternate economic development has proven to be a problem in rural and regional Australia. This dissertation highlights the importance of investment in training, research and innovation in Information Communication Technology (ICT) in the MDB as a transition strategy attached to water policy. New Institutional Economics theory informs of the importance of institutional linkages for the achievement of transition economy goals between the MDBA and relevant government departments, including Treasury, Finance, Communications, Education, Employment and Training, and AUSTRADE. These institutional linkages have the potential to convert the economy dependent on agriculture to a knowledge economy over a period of two decades. This transition has the potential to reduce the level of youth migration from the rural sector to the urban sector, increasing the possibility of service sector expansion. At every major stage of water reform in the MDB to reduce over-extraction, from the 1994 cap and trade system, to the 2004 National Water Initiative to the Water Act 2007, a sustainable rural economic transition strategy has been repeatedly missed by successive governments. However State governments post-2011 have very belatedly commenced raising the matter of structural adjustment repeatedly in negotiations with the Federal government following vocal protests by irrigators. This dissertation also highlights limitations of water law and public institutions which include the absence of effective conflict resolution rules, mistrust in government management of water, mistrust in government institutional capacity, inadequate information flow and lack of clarity over property rights and compensation rules. Reform proposals therefore concern inclusion of conflict resolution provisions at the daily operational level and the Federal and State level. Daily operation rules adapted for the MDB focus on ongoing cooperation between heterogeneous users at the regional level to minimize conflict. At the Federal and State level the reform model proposes modification of the "no significant harm rule" articulated in international law, to include cost-benefit analysis rules and compensation rules. This dissertation proposes inclusion of the substantially modified "no-significant harm" rule as an amendment to the Water Act 2007. The aim of the no significant harm rule is to ensure all parties consider the impact of their actions upon other stakeholders and to promote respectful dialogue between parties. The model proposed sought to address key concerns pertaining to institutional bias, valuation methods and mechanisms to address harm to the rural economy. Inclusion of the modified "no significant harm rule" holds the potential to improve cooperative negotiations between State and Federal governments to optimize environmental, social and economic outcomes, as required by Article 3 of the Water Act 2007.

Download or read book Environmental Flows written by Angela Arthington and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2012-10-15 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Environmental Flows describes the timing, quality, and quantity of water flows required to sustain freshwater and estuarine ecosystems and the human well-being and livelihoods that depend upon them. It answers crucial questions about the flow of water within and between different kinds of ecosystems. What happens when the flow or the availability of water is curtailed or diverted, either naturally or by human activity? How will climate change alter the availability of water and impact aquatic ecosystems? Methodological developments from the simplest hydrological formulas to large-scale frameworks that inform water management make this book a must-read for water managers and freshwater and estuarine ecologists contending with ever-changing conditions influencing the flow of water.

Download or read book Basin Futures written by Daniel Connell and published by ANU E Press. This book was released on 2011-05-01 with total page 500 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This unique book brings together 27 chapters from some of the world's leading practitioners and experts on environmental water, communities, law, economics and governance. Its goal is to understand the many dimensions of water in the Murray-Darling Basin and provide guidance about how to implement a water management plan that addresses the needs of communities, the economy and the environment. The comprehensiveness of topics covered, the expertise of its authors, and the absolute need to take a multidisciplinary approach to resolving the "wicked problem" of governing our scarce water resource makes this volume a must read for all who care about Australian communities and the environment.

Download or read book River Murray Barrages Environmental Flows written by South Australia. Dept for Water Resources. Wetlands Management Program and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Rivers as Ecological Systems written by Murray-Darling Basin Commission and published by Csi. This book was released on 2001 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The knowledge upon which this book is based has been drawn from more than 1000 published papers, books and reports". -- FOREWORD. For ecologists, community catchment and river groups, students and policy analysts.

Download or read book Report of the River Murray Scientific Panel on Environmental Flows written by Martin Thoms and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Ecosystem Response Modelling in the Murray Darling Basin written by Neil Saintilan and published by CSIRO PUBLISHING. This book was released on 2010-04-27 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ecosystem Response Modelling in the Murray-Darling Basin provides an overview of the status of science in support of water management in Australia’s largest and most economically important river catchment, and brings together the leading ecologists working in the rivers and wetlands of the Basin. It introduces the issues in ecosystem response modelling and how this area of science can support environmental watering decisions. The declining ecological condition of the internationally significant wetlands of the Murray-Darling Basin has been a prominent issue in Australia for many years. Several high profile government programs have sought to restore the flow conditions required to sustain healthy wetlands, and this book documents the scientific effort that is underpinning this task. In the Southern Murray-Darling Basin, the River Murray, the Murrumbidgee River and their associated wetlands and floodplains have been the focus of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority’s ‘The Living Murray’ program, and the NSW Rivers Environmental Restoration Program. The book documents research aimed at informing environmental water use in a number of iconic wetlands including those along the Murray – the Barmah-Millewa Forest; the Chowilla Floodplain and Lindsay-Wallpolla Islands; the Coorong and Murray mouth; and the Murrumbidgee – the Lowbidgee Floodplain. Within the Northern Murray-Darling Basin, research conducted in support of the Wetland Recovery Plan and the NSW Rivers Environmental Restoration Program has improved our knowledge of the Gwydir Wetlands and the Macquarie Marshes, and the water regimes required to sustain their ecology.

Download or read book The Feasibility of a Decision Support System for Environmental Flows written by and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Future Visions for the River Murray written by Gary J. Jones and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This picture books was produced by the CRC for Freshwater Ecology at the request of the Murray Darling Basin Commission to illustrate the ecological assessment provided in the ERP report. ... This book illlustrates how the River Murray might look in the future, under the flow scenarios assessed in the ERP report, at different locations along the river."--P. 4.

Download or read book Environmental Flows written by Jacqueline King and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Research Report on Using Existing Legislation to Recover and Protect Environmental Flows in the River Murray written by and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Environmental Flows Decision Support Program written by and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Living Murray Environmental Works and Measures Program written by and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Dead in the Water written by Richard Beasley and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2021-02-02 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Full-throated and provocative, this is a very personal battle cry to save our most precious natural resource. 'I LOVE IT.' Peter FitzSimons 'With a deft mixture of outrage, humour and in-depth knowledge, only Beasley could make water policy a page turner.' Craig Reucassel 'It's great to shed some more light on the policy creep and mismanagement that is driving environmental degradation of many of the Murray-Darling Basin rivers.' Professor Richard Kingsford, Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists 'We want to reset these bio-diversities and the ecologies in our country. We want to see our fish spawning as they once were, our animals coming back down to drink. Fresh quality water out of the Coorong, not this super saline stuff that we're living in today's environment. It's slowly dying. You can smell the impact of what's happening . . .' Grant Rigney, Ngarrindjeri Nation, from his sworn evidence at the Royal Commission into the Murray-Darling Basin. Richard Beasley is fed up. He's fed up with vested interests killing off Australia's most precious water resource. He's fed up with the cowardice and negligence that have allowed Big Agriculture and irrigators to destroy a river system that can sustain both the environment and the communities that depend on it. He's fed up that a noble plan to save Murray-Darling Basin based on the 'best scientific knowledge' has instead been corroded by lies, the denial of climate change, pseudoscience and political expediency. He pulls no punches. He's provocative, he's outrageous, he points the finger without shame. And he will leave you very, very angry. Dead in the Water would be political satire of the highest order . . . if it weren't so tragically true.

Download or read book Ecosystem Response Modelling in the Murray Darling Basin written by Neil Saintilan and published by CSIRO PUBLISHING. This book was released on 2010 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ecosystem Response Modelling in the Murray-Darling Basin provides an overview of the status of science in support of water management in Australia's largest and most economically important river catchment, and brings together the leading ecologists working in the rivers and wetlands of the Basin. It introduces the issues in ecosystem response modelling and how this area of science can support environmental watering decisions. The declining ecological condition of the internationally significant wetlands of the Murray-Darling Basin has been a prominent issue in Australia for many years. Several high profile government programs have sought to restore the flow conditions required to sustain healthy wetlands, and this book documents the scientific effort that is underpinning this task. In the Southern Murray-Darling Basin, the River Murray, the Murrumbidgee River and their associated wetlands and floodplains have been the focus of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority's 'The Living Murray' program, and the NSW Rivers Environmental Restoration Program. The book documents research aimed at informing environmental water use in a number of iconic wetlands including those along the Murray - the Barmah-Millewa Forest; the Chowilla Floodplain and Lindsay-Wallpolla Islands; the Coorong and Murray mouth; and the Murrumbidgee - the Lowbidgee Floodplain. Within the Northern Murray-Darling Basin, research conducted in support of the Wetland Recovery Plan and the NSW Rivers Environmental Restoration Program has improved our knowledge of the Gwydir Wetlands and the Macquarie Marshes, and the water regimes required to sustain their ecology.