Search

Context: In implementing the Murray–Darling Basin Plan, jurisdictions have defined environmental water requirements (EWRs) for sites along Basin rivers. EWRs are the flows (frequency, magnitude, duration, and timing) required to achieve environmental outcomes; they are derived from flow-ecology relationships by using best available scientific knowledge. Aims: To assess EWR achievement across the Murray–Darling Basin over a 43.5-year period (1 July 1979 – 31 December 2022) that included periods of drought as well as widespread flooding. Methods: By using a published EWR assessment tool, we analysed the achievement of EWRs for small fresh, large fresh, bankfull and overbank flows for 23 sites. Key results: At 65% of stream gauge sites assessed, most EWRs evaluated had not been met. We also compared analyses of different time periods, namely, a 43.5-year period, and a 10-year period since the Basin Plan was legislated. This highlighted some improvement in EWR achievement for the small fresh EWR. Conclusions and implications: Despite some improvements, the continued lack of achievement in meeting EWRs is likely to be a major contributing factor to the ongoing poor health of channel, wetland (including Ramsar wetlands) and floodplain ecosystems across most of the rivers of the Murray–Darling Basin. Environmental water requirements (EWRs) are the flows required to keep aquatic ecosystems healthy. We explored whether EWRs had been met across aquatic ecosystems in the Murray–Darling Basin over the past four decades, finding that at 65% of assessed sites they had not been achieved. The most recent decade since Basin Plan legislation has seen some improvement in EWR achievement for small freshes, possibly reflecting active environmental watering. However, across most rivers of the Murray–Darling Basin, poor health of channel, wetland (including Ramsar wetlands) and floodplain ecosystems remain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Irrigation & Drainage is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Context: Transboundary sharing of river water is not just an international problem, it also cascades down to regional, state and local levels. Water cooperation in the Brahmaputra River basin among China, India, Bhutan and Bangladesh has long been contested. However, it is unclear how the four countries can cooperate and what the cornerstones for their cooperation might be. Aims: Better transboundary management of Brahmaputra requires a new direction from the current situation of fragmented cooperation, conflicts and disputes in the region and increasing threats of climate change. Methods: To explore possible consensus, we conducted an advocacy coalition assessment of the four countries on the basis of the heterogeneous ecosystem services valued by each nation. Key results: Whereas China and India are focused on politics, Bangladesh and Bhutan are primarily concerned about the basin in physical terms. Although each nation values the Brahmaputra in different ways, it is possible to initiate strong collaboration on the basis of shared beliefs. We found that hydropower-supported energy transitions for clean and affordable energy supply meet the needs and expectations of all nations, especially under the threats of climate change. Conclusions: A sustainable energy change coalition can help reduce carbon emissions, acquire green energy, irrigate land in dry seasons, and manage disasters and increasing runoffs from melting glaciers. We conclude our paper with insights for each nation and hydropower development as a whole that might help the nations manage the Brahmaputra River more sustainably by overcoming their unmatched or mismatched values and interest. Implications: Water in shared rivers can raise regional conflicts, but it does not have to if mismatched deep core beliefs among nations can be avoided through cooperation. Transboundary water management has often been obstructed by tensions among the different nation-states. Better transboundary management of Brahmaputra requires a new direction from the current situation of fragmented cooperation, conflicts and disputes among China, India, Bhutan and Bangladesh, and increasing threats of climate change. We find that hydropower-supported energy transitions for clean and affordable energy supply meet the needs and expectations of all nations, especially under the threats of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Risks to shared water resources in the Murray–Darling Basin are reviewed after the report by CSIRO on the same topic in 2006. CSIRO outlined six major risks to shared water resources in the Basin. Herein, six groups of researchers have reviewed the risks of climate change, forest growth, groundwater, water infrastructure, water quality, and governance. These reviews bring an updated understanding of risk assessment and management that can contribute to the forthcoming reviews of the Water Act and Basin Plan in 2024–26. Drawing on these six papers, the authors synthesise knowledge of the risks to shared water resources and identify policy and management options and information gaps. We find that few risk factors have decreased in significance. Most risks remain and new risks are identified. Water managers must plan for a significant decrease in water availability and governments need to actively manage these risks under conditions of increasing uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Murray–Darling Basin Plan, a major initiative to return water from irrigators to the environment, has been lauded as world-class water reform. The enabling legislation for the Basin Plan, the Water Act, gains its constitutional legitimacy from international treaties such as the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. This Act mandated that water be returned from consumptive uses to the environment. An allocation of 2,750 GL/yr was set but has been reduced by the 'Sustainable Diversion Limit Adjustment Mechanism' (SDLAM), intended to achieve equivalent environmental benefits with less water. We present a synthesis of changes in decision contexts that have led to water reforms being 'watered down'. We analysed the policy discourse of water reform to assess whether SDLAM projects will achieve outcomes congruent with Australia's international treaty obligations. We found little or no alignment between the purpose of the SDLAM projects and the principles of the treaties and the Water Act. As water scarcity increases under climate change, attempting to conserve wetlands (including rivers) with less water while maintaining or increasing irrigation diversions is likely to prove maladaptive. A major reframing of environmental water policy and management is required to enable meaningful and effective adaptation to climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Increasing water scarcity creates the major challenge of how to achieve environmental outcomes while meeting human water demands. In the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia, this challenge is being addressed by the Murray–Darling Basin Plan and the 'Sustainable Diversion Limit Adjustment Mechanism' (SDLAM), an offsetting program seeking to achieve environmental outcomes using less water. Aims: We provide a critique of the legislated method for evaluation of the SDLAM and the suitability of the process for evaluating whether equivalent environmental outcomes have been achieved. Methods: Four project case studies, project documentation, external reviews and relevant legislation were used to assess the implementation of the SDLAM and the evaluation method. Key results: The SDLAM evaluation method is not scientifically rigorous. It excludes residual risks, Basin-wide impacts and climate change. The evaluation timeline is biased towards measuring infrastructure outputs rather than environmental outcomes and impacts. Conclusions: Flaws in the SDLAM evaluation processes mean that environmental benefits are likely to be overstated, risking further reductions in allocations of water for the environment, contrary to the objectives of the Basin Plan. Implications: Improved evaluation, including empirical data on outputs, outcomes and impacts, is needed to ensure that conservation objectives can be met for wetlands subject to SDLAM projects. In the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia, policy-makers have implemented a program that attempts to use environmental water more effectively, allowing more water to be allocated for human uses. This program must be rigorously evaluated to ensure that the environmental benefits are not overstated. We provide a critique of the legislated method for evaluation, highlighting flaws and recommending improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Water managers in the Murray–Darling Basin increasingly recognise the cultural and environmental benefits generated by Indigenous co-management of environmental water. However, traditional knowledge and values are subsidiary to western technical and scientific perceptions when prioritising environmental water use. Aims and methods: We mapped the locations and volumes of Commonwealth Environmental Water Office environmental watering events onto the wetlands within the land area represented by different state-determined Indigenous organisations and discuss how this relates to the varied nature and extent of Indigenous engagement in environmental watering decisions. Key results: Between 2014–15 and 2018–19, one organisation had nearly 13% of the area of wetlands watered, but the average was less than 3%. In all, 18 of the 26 organisations received no environmental water. Conclusions: The distribution of environmental flows does not meet the cultural needs of Indigenous nations due to physical restrictions and policy limitations. Yet, there are clear environmental and cultural co-benefits where Indigenous peoples have developed partnerships with environmental water managers. Developing stronger partnerships and increasing Indigenous water entitlements from the current 0.17% of issued entitlements would maximise these benefits in catchments where environmental water is prioritised. Implications: The reviews of the Water Act and the Basin Plan scheduled for 2024–26 present opportunities to implement reforms. Indigenous co-management of environmental water generates significant cultural and environmental benefits. We map environmental watering events in the Murray–Darling Basin onto the boundaries of state-determined Indigenous organisations. We then discuss how this relates to varying levels of Indigenous engagement in environmental watering decisions across the Basin. To address the issues highlighted, we suggest policy pathways that could be implemented in upcoming reviews of the Water Act and the Basin Plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how the state-led 'freshening the coastal zones' policy has been implemented in pursuit of sustainable development in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta. Drawing on a case study of the Ba Lai irrigation scheme in a coastal district of Ben Tre Province, the paper argues that the state's ideology of 'freshwater over saltwater' results in contested land-use policies that, in turn, drive forced transformation of resource-based livelihoods. By unraveling the political ecology of these social-political dynamics, the study shows how contemporary land-use approaches have modified coastalscapes, evidenced by the continued expansion of freshwater-based agricultural systems. These agriculture-favored development policies have negatively affected agrarian communities' options to sustain their traditional livelihoods (e.g. shrimp farming), which otherwise help yield higher incomes. This paper raises doubts about the 'freshening coastal zones' policy in addressing saltwater intrusion at the delta scale, while recognizing the equal role of saltwater in supporting coastal livelihoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Freshwater ecosystems are among the most vulnerable and endangered in the world, facing continued uncertainty under climate change, development of water resources and land use change. The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (1971) is one of the longest-standing international agreements on biodiversity conservation. Its central objective is the maintenance of the ecological character of Wetlands of International Importance and the wise use of all wetlands. Here, we examine how the maintenance of ecological character has been addressed in Australia as part of the Murray--Darling Basin Plan, one of the most ambitious water reform programs to be undertaken globally and intended to restore water from irrigated agriculture to the environment. We analyse policy and planning documents from Commonwealth and state jurisdictions on the management of environmental water. Despite stated objectives to conserve Ramsar wetlands in the Basin Plan, we found a pattern of complex and convoluted arrangements for delivering environmental water to Ramsar wetlands and a lack of transparency and accountability about how Ramsar obligations are considered within each jurisdiction. We conclude that consideration of the ecological character of Ramsar wetlands has been marginalised by governments when managing environmental water, despite the statutory requirements to maintain these wetlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]