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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]

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]

The Murray–Darling Basin Plan was established with the objective of restoring water from irrigation to the environment, thereby conserving wetlands and biodiversity. We examined whether the Plan is achieving this objective by assessing whether environmental watering has helped conserve threatened flow-dependent fauna. Two frog species, two waterbirds and four fishes, were assessed for their conservation status in relation to (1) whether they were targeted in environmental watering plans, (2) whether population monitoring had occurred and (3) evidence of population recovery. We determined indicators of abundance and occurrence of species between 2012–13 and 2018–19 and found widespread inconsistencies in the targeting of environmental watering for these species, including their being overlooked in watering plans and actions in several catchments. Environmental watering had some positive outcomes for some threatened species in some locations on some occasions, but benefits, and their monitoring and reporting, are patchy and inconsistent. Monitoring of temporal trends in distribution, occurrence and abundance of species is inadequate to evaluate success. If the Plan is to achieve its objective and uphold Australia's international environmental treaty obligations, more needs to be done to target and deliver environmental water for threatened species and improve the monitoring and reporting of outcomes. A primary goal of the A$13 billion Basin Plan is to conserve threatened species, yet Flow to Nowhere finds that this has been only partially achieved. Although some species benefit from environmental water, many others are missing out or going unreported. The Basin Plan should shift from 'just adding water' and, instead, focus on increasing reporting and community-led restoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Worldwide, floodplains have been alienated from river channels for flood protection and water resource development, but several recent programs have restored connectivity, generating considerable ecological and , socio-economic benefits. In Australia, under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, water purchased from irrigators is used to restore wetlands. Maximising ecological benefits with limited water requires constraints relaxation, whereby high flow volumes for ecologically effective floods are released from headwater dams and allowed to flood public and private land en route to wetlands downstream, requiring infrastructure works and rights to inundate private land. We examined five focal areas in the Basin Constraints Management Strategy to determine ecosystem services benefits generated by floods on land between dams and target wetlands We found multiple examples where significant co-benefits could be realised but had not been identified. Accordingly, the assessment of costs and benefits was primarily focussed on costs. We categorised ecosystem services for each focal area as of low, medium or high importance andassigned monetary values where possible. Regulating and cultural services, rather than provisioning services, ranked highest across all focus areas, including groundwater recharge, regulation of riparian habitat quality, aesthetic appreciation, recreation and tourism, Indigenous and community values. The business cases seek to maximise costs and thus the transfer of public funds in compensation to landholders. However, there are important public policy considerations of equity, accountability and transparency, including proof of damage prior to compensation, as well as offsetting losses against ecosystem services benefits. We consider that an ecosystem services approach could greatly improve acceptance of constraints relaxation amongst landholders and the development of novel policy options and instruments that can help advance the implementation of the Basin Plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]