Academic literature on the topic 'Murray -Darling Rivers environmental policy'
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Journal articles on the topic "Murray -Darling Rivers environmental policy"
1
Goss, K. "Report Card - Murray-Darling Basin - 2001." Water Science and Technology 45, no. 11 (June 1, 2002): 133–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wst.2002.0388.
Full textAbstract:
Ongoing deterioration of the riverine environments of the Murray-Darling Basin led the Murray-Darling Basin Ministerial Council to introduce a Cap in 1995 to halt the growth in diversions of water for consumptive use. This initiative recognised the finite nature of water resources in the Basin and sought to introduce a balance between off-stream use of water and protection of the riverine environment. But the cap is only one step, albeit a fundamental one, in restoring the Basin's rivers - it is a “stake in the ground”. Parties to the Murray-Darling Basin Initiative recognise the need to reverse decades of creeping decline if the Basin's rivers and riverine environments are to return to a more ecologically sustainable condition. In the last 12 months, Council and Commission have taken far-reaching decisions designed to restore the Basin's Rivers. Many of these decisions, even 10 years ago, would have been unimaginable. The Report Card will explain the need for a number of recent decisions that will impact on the future of the Basin's rivers. For example, Council's decision to establish an Environmental Manager function in the Office of the Commission was made in the context of the recently agreed Integrated Catchment Management (ICM) Policy, and supporting Sustainable Rivers Audit. The role of targets and accountabilities under the ICM Policy will also be discussed. The Report Card will also present a snapshot of the state of the Basin's rivers and the actions being taken at a range of scales and locations in response to identified problems. Because some of the key initiatives are still in development, this Report Card will set the scene by describing where our attention is being focused and why.
2
Maini, N., A. Buchan, and S. Joseph. "Derivation of a salinity target for the Lower Murray Darling Valley." Water Science and Technology 48, no. 7 (October 1, 2003): 105–12. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wst.2003.0430.
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The NSW Government commissioned catchment management boards (CMBs) to set the direction and process for catchment scale natural resource management. In the Lower Murray Darling, Rivers are highly regulated and water resources shared between three states. The Catchment Board only has jurisdiction over the northern bank of the Murray but salt and water enter the river from many locations upstream and along the area boundary. River salt and flow modelling has continually been improved to reflect and contribute to an increased understanding of salinity processes. The MDBC Salt Load study correlates 10 years of actual measured data with its modelled outputs, and estimates river salinities for 2020, 2050 and 2100. Routing models such as SALTFLO and MURKEY generate percentile salinity levels at different nodes in the River Murray downstream of the Lower Darling confluence. National, Murray-Darling Basin and NSW salinity management policy and legislative requirements were considered, MDBC model output was used to ensure the interim targets are achievable, auditable, and appropriate to the catchment. The method for an end-of-valley river based target for salinity is described. A target of less than 463 μS/cm for Lock 6, a point in the lower reaches of the Murray River is recommended for year 2010. Catchment management targets that express the main river salinity risk in five hydrologically distinct management zones are also recommended. Salinity management changes are needed in each zone to meet the end-of-valley target.
3
Garrick, Dustin, Rosalind Bark, Jeff Connor, and Onil Banerjee. "Environmental water governance in federal rivers: opportunities and limits for subsidiarity in Australia's Murray–Darling River." Water Policy 14, no. 6 (August 14, 2012): 915–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wp.2012.120.
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A reform process is underway in the Murray–Darling Basin (Australia) to reallocate water from irrigated agriculture to the environment. The scale, complexity and politics of the recovery process have prompted interest in the role of local environmental water managers within state and federal governance arrangements. This paper examines prospects for a local role in environmental water management through the lens of the subsidiarity principle: the notion that effective governance devolves tasks to the lowest level with the political authority and capacity to perform them. The article defines and applies the subsidiarity principle to assess evolving federal–state–local interactions in environmental water policy, planning and practice in Australia's Murray–Darling River. In this context, subsidiarity is useful to clarify institutional roles and their coordination at a whole-of-river level. This analysis demonstrates opportunities for a local role in information gathering, innovation and operational flexibility to respond to opportunities in real time. It identifies significant limits to local action in upstream–downstream tradeoffs, economies of scale, capacity building and cost sharing for basin-wide or national interests, and accountability mechanisms to balance local, state and national rights and responsibilities. Lessons are relevant internationally for regions confronting complex allocation tradeoffs between human and environmental needs within multi-jurisdictional federal systems.
4
Gippel, C., T. Jacobs, and T. McLeod. "Environmental flows and water quality objectives for the River Murray." Water Science and Technology 45, no. 11 (June 1, 2002): 251–60. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wst.2002.0402.
Full textAbstract:
Over the past decade, there intense consideration of managing flows in the River Murray to provide environmental benefits. In 1990 the Murray-Darling Basin Ministerial Council adopted a water quality policy: To maintain and, where necessary, improve existing water quality in the rivers of the Murray-Darling Basin for all beneficial uses - agricultural, environmental, urban, industrial and recreational, and in 1994 a flow policy: To maintain and where necessary improve existing flow regimes in the waterways of the Murray-Darling Basin to protect and enhance the riverine environment. The Audit of Water Use followed in 1995, culminating in the decision of the Ministerial Council to implement an interim cap on new diversions for consumptive use (the “Cap”) in a bid to halt declining river health. In March 1999 the Environmental Flows and Water Quality Objectives for the River Murray Project (the Project) was set up, primarily to establish water quality and environmental flow objectives for the River Murray system. A Flow Management Plan will be developed that aims to achieve a sustainable river environment and water quality, in accordance with community needs, and including an adaptive approach to management and operation of the River. It will lead to objectives for water quality and environmental flows that are feasible, appropriate, have the support of the scientific, management and stakeholder communities, and carry acceptable levels of risk. This paper describes four key aspects of the process being undertaken to determine the objectives, and design the flow options that will meet those objectives: establishment of an appropriate technical, advisory and administrative framework; establishing clear evidence for regulation impacts; undergoing assessment of environmental flow needs; and filling knowledge gaps. A review of the impacts of flow regulation on the health of the River Murray revealed evidence for decline, but the case for flow regulation as the main cause is circumstantial or uncertain. This is to be expected, because the decline of the River Murray results from many factors acting over a long period. Also, the health of the river varies along its length, from highly degraded to reasonably healthy, so it is clear that different approaches will be needed in the various river zones, with some problems requiring reach or even point scale solutions. Environmental flow needs have been determined through two major Expert Panel reports that identified the ecological priorities for the river. The next step is to translate these needs into feasible flow management actions that will provide the necessary hydrological conditions. Several investigations are underway to recommend options for flow management. Two important investigations are described in this paper: how to enhance flows to wetlands of national and international significance, and how to physically alter or change the operation of structures (including a dam, weir, lock, regulator, barrage or causeway), to provide significant environmental benefits. Early modelling suggests that the only option which has a positive environmental effect in all zones of the River is a reduction in overall water consumption.
5
Pittock, Jamie. "Are we there yet? The Murray-Darling Basin and sustainable water management." Thesis Eleven 150, no. 1 (February 2019): 119–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0725513618821970.
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In 2007, then Australian Prime Minister Howard said of the Murray-Darling Basin’s rivers that action was required to end the ‘The tyranny of incrementalism and the lowest common denominator’ governance to prevent ‘economic and environmental decline’. This paper explores the management of these rivers as an epicentre for three key debates for the future of Australia. Information on biodiversity, analyses of the socio-ecological system, and climate change projections are presented to illustrate the disjunction between trends in environmental health and the institutions established to manage the Basin sustainably. Three key debates are considered: (1) conflict over the allocation of water between irrigated agriculture versus a range of other ecosystem services as the latest manifestation of the debate between adherents of the pioneering myth versus advocates of limits to growth in Australia; (2) cyclical crises as a driver of reactive policy reform and the prospects of the 2008 Water Act forming the basis of proactive, adaptive management of emerging threats and opportunities; and (3) subsidiarity in governance of the environment and natural resources in the Australian federation. Implementation of the 2012 Basin Plan as promised by the Federal Government ‘in full and on time’ is a key sustainability test for Australia. Despite Australian claims of exceptionalism, the Murray-Darling Basin experience mirrors the challenges faced in managing rivers sustainably and across governance scales in federations around the world.
6
Colloff, Matthew J., and Jamie Pittock. "Mind the Gap! Reconciling Environmental Water Requirements with Scarcity in the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia." Water 14, no. 2 (January 11, 2022): 208. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/w14020208.
Full textAbstract:
The Murray–Darling Basin Plan is a $AU 13 billion program to return water from irrigation use to the environment. Central to the success of the Plan, commenced in 2012, is the implementation of an Environmentally Sustainable Level of Take (ESLT) and a Sustainable Diversion Limit (SDL) on the volume of water that can be taken for consumptive use. Under the enabling legislation, the Water Act (2007), the ESLT and SDL must be set by the “best available science.” In 2009, the volume of water to maintain wetlands and rivers of the Basin was estimated at 3000–7600 GL per year. Since then, there has been a steady step-down in this volume to 2075 GL year due to repeated policy adjustments, including “supply measures projects,” building of infrastructure to obtain the same environmental outcomes with less water. Since implementation of the Plan, return of water to the environment is falling far short of targets. The gap between the volume required to maintain wetlands and rivers and what is available is increasing with climate change and other risks, but the Plan makes no direct allowance for climate change. We present policy options that address the need to adapt to less water and re-frame the decision context from contestation between water for irrigation versus the environment. Options include best use of water for adaptation and structural adjustment packages for irrigation communities integrated with environmental triage of those wetlands likely to transition to dryland ecosystems under climate change.
7
Goss, Kevin F. "Environmental flows, river salinity and biodiversity conservation: managing trade-offs in the Murray - Darling basin." Australian Journal of Botany 51, no. 6 (2003): 619. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/bt03003.
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The Murray–Darling basin's river system suffers from over-allocation of water resources to consumptive use and salinity threats to water quality. This paper draws attention to the current state of knowledge and the need for further investigations into the biological effect of river salinity on aquatic biota and ecosystems, the threats of dryland salinity to terrestrial biodiversity, and managing environmental flows and salinity control to limit the trade-offs in water-resource security and river salinity.There is growing evidence that river salt concentrations lower than the normally adopted threshold have sublethal effects on species and ecosystems, over a longer time period. Further knowledge is required.There is no agreed process for incorporating terrestrial biodiversity values at risk into a strategic response for dryland-salinity management. This is a public policy issue to be addressed.Recent studies have quantified the trade-off in surface water flow and river salinity from refforestation and revegetation of upland catchments to control salinity. The potential losses or benefits to environmental values have not been quantified.Such improved knowledge is important to the Murray–Darling basin and relevant to other river basins and catchments in Australia.
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Marshall, Graham R. "Evaluating Adaptive Efficiency in Environmental Water Recovery: Application of a Framework for Institutional Cost-Effectiveness Analysis." Water Economics and Policy 06, no. 02 (April 2020): 2050003. http://dx.doi.org/10.1142/s2382624x20500034.
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The first empirical application of an established framework for evaluating the adaptive efficiency of policy and project options — the Institutional Cost-Effectiveness Analysis (ICEA) framework — is documented in this paper. The application involves cost-effectiveness comparison of six projects for environmental water recovery in the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia, managed by the New South Wales (NSW) Government under three programs: The Living Murray Initiative; the NSW Wetland Recovery Program; and the NSW Rivers Environmental Restoration Program. Focussing primarily on one of the projects — the Darling Anabranch Pipeline Project (DAPP) — allows an in-depth account to be presented of the ICEA framework’s application. Abatement and transaction costs, and public and private subsets of these costs, were accounted for in the applications. The adaptive efficiency of the DAPP (a “water-saving project”) is found provisionally — i.e., without accounting quantitatively for institutional lock-in costs — to exceed that of the five other environmental water recovery projects (including two “market-purchase projects”) evaluated. This finding is significant given a tendency for economists to presume that environmental water recovery is generally achieved more efficiently through market-purchase projects. With water management, and environmental management more broadly, exposed to increasing uncertainty, adaptive efficiency will grow in importance as a metric for economic evaluation. The application of the ICEA framework documented in this paper can guide researchers in applying this metric to evaluations of projects and policies implemented in, or proposed for, this domain.
9
Growns, Ivor, Iris Wing Tsoi, Mark Southwell, Sarah Mika, Sam Lewis, and Ben Vincent. "The effects of hydrology on macroinvertebrate traits in river channel and wetland habitats." Aquatic Ecosystem Health & Management 24, no. 4 (October 1, 2021): 93–102. http://dx.doi.org/10.14321/aehm.024.04.12.
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Abstract Increased need for freshwater for human uses from the mid-1900s has severely impacted rivers and floodplain wetlands so that they are some of the most seriously degraded environments in the world. Research and monitoring in this area to date has focused on understanding ‘flow-ecology’ relationships, without investigating the mechanisms underlying them. The use of species traits offers a tool for defining mechanistic connections between biotic responses and environmental conditions. We examined nine macroinvertebrate trait categories in both wetlands and channels to determine whether their profiles responded to hydrology in the Gwydir River system in the northern Murray-Darling Basin, Australia. Trait responses were shown for the wetlands but not the river channels. Twelve traits showed positive relationships with the time the wetlands were connected to their river channels. It is unclear the reason(s) why the river channel invertebrate traits did not respond to hydrology. However, the use of environmental flows in the river systems may be important to other aspects of macroinvertebrate assemblages such as their role in food webs to support higher-order consumers.
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Bark, Rosalind, Mac Kirby, Jeffery D. Connor, and Neville D. Crossman. "Water allocation reform to meet environmental uses while sustaining irrigation: a case study of the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia." Water Policy 16, no. 4 (March 19, 2014): 739–54. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wp.2014.128.
Full textAbstract:
Governments are developing policy to reallocate water to environmental uses in many of the world's major river basins developed for irrigation. These policies can place considerable pressure on the irrigation sector to adjust, and may be perceived to conflict with food security and rural development goals. This paper reviews the literature examining opportunities to reduce irrigation district and third party externalities associated with rapid adjustment to water reallocation, with emphasis on recent water reform in the Murray–Darling Basin (MDB), Australia. We focus on opportunities to improve joint environmental and regional economic outcomes, by targeting and sequencing policy instruments operating at different scales.
Dissertations / Theses on the topic "Murray -Darling Rivers environmental policy"
1
Dwyer, Brian James, University of Western Sydney, College of Social and Health Sciences, and School of Natural Sciences. "Aspects of governance and public participation in remediation of the Murray-Darling Basin." THESIS_CSHS_NS_Dwyer_B.xml, 2004. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/776.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis addresses the question “What is the essence of the Murray Darling river system conundrum that is usually posed as an issue of environmental remediation?”- following perceptions of problems in catchment strategy formulation regarding project selection and public consultation. The question is initially seen as having four facets – governance, public, participation and remediation. An initial literature review indicated that previous examination of these topics seemed insufficiently radical or comprehensive for the enquiry’s purposes, seeming not to attribute full humanness to members of the public. A fieldwork program of quasi-anthropological nature was conducted. Interpretation of the fieldwork reports focuses primarily on the lack of attribution of full humanness to members of the public. Interpretive techniques including a phenomenological-style process was applied and found that the district houses a number of unrecognised people “nexors’ occupying linking or nexus roles who exercise personal skills and initiatives to underpin effective remediation outcomes. Towards the end of the fieldwork program, further literature indicated that the initial four-facet nature of the enquiry should be reformulated, to include the overall nature of western society as it appears in the district (in place of participation), to reconstitute the concept of remediation more radically. Governance as a topic is broader than the ways in which it appears in the examined district, and suitable hybridizing of competing world view concepts remains unresolved in this thesisDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)
2
Dwyer, Brian James. "Aspects of governance and public participation in remediation of the Murray-Darling Basin /." View thesis, 2004. http://library.uws.edu.au/adt-NUWS/public/adt-NUWS20060517.130206/index.html.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, 2004."A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the University of Western Sydney, Sydney, January 2004." Includes bibliography : leaves 359 - 369.
3
Molinari, Claire Marcella. "The environment, intergenerational equity & long-term investment." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2011. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:30dd270b-3f0f-4b8b-979e-904af5cb597b.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis brings together two responses to the question ‘how can the law extend the timeframe for environmentally relevant decision-making?’ The first response is drawn from the context of institutional investment, and addresses the timeframe and breadth of environmental considerations in pension fund investment decision-making. The second response is related to the context of public environmental decision-making by legislators, the judiciary, and administrators. Three themes underlie and bind the thesis: the challenges to decision-making posed by the particular temporal and spatial characteristics of environmental problems, the existence and effects of short-termism in a variety of contexts, and the legal notion of the trust as a means for analysing and addressing problems of a long-term or intergenerational nature. These themes are borne out in each of the four substantive chapters. Chapter III sets out to demonstrate the theoretical potential of pension funds to drive the reduction of firms’ environmental impact, and, focusing particularly on the notion of fiduciary duty, explores the barriers that stand in their way. Chapter IV provides a practical application of the theoretical recommendations outlined in its predecessor. It provides a framework outlining how pension funds might implement a longer term, more sustainable approach to investing. The second half of the thesis, operating in the context of public environmental decision-making, is centred upon a particularly poignant legal notion with respect to the environment and time: the concept of intergenerational equity. Just as the first half of the thesis deals with the timeframes relevant to investment decision-making by pension funds within the bounds of fiduciary duty, largely a private law affair with public implications, the second half of the thesis is concerned with the principle of intergenerational equity as a means for extending the decision-making timeframe of legislative, judicial and administrative decision-makers. As previous analyses of the concept of intergenerational equity provide little insight into its practical implications when applied to particular factual situation, Chapter V sets out the structure of the principle of intergenerational equity as revealed by case law. Chapter VI brings together the issues from the first three papers by conceptualising intergenerational equity in resource management as an issue of long-term investment. Long-term environmental decision-making faces many obstacles. Individual behavioural biases, short-term financial incentive structures, the myopic pressures of the electoral cycle and the tendency of the common law to reinforce the (often shorttermist) status quo all present significant barriers to the capacity of both private and public decision-makers to act in ways that favour the longer term interests of the environment. Nonetheless, this thesis argues that there is reason for hope: drawing upon the three themes that underlie all of the substantive Chapters, it articulates potential legislative changes and recommends the adoption of particular governance structures to overcome barriers to long-term environmental decision-making.
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Rayl, Johanna M. "Water Markets and Climate Change Adaptation: Assessing the Water Trading Experiences of Chile, Australia, and the U.S. with Respect to Climate Pressures on Water Resources." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2016. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/pomona_theses/150.
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Water trading and water markets have been listed by leading climate change organizations as a possible tool for climate change adaptation. Experience with water trading exists in many places in the world, and three of the most well-known and widely-studied markets for water rights are found in the Western United States, Chile, and Australia's Murray-Darling Basin. While the body of literature on the performance of these markets is extensive, few papers relate the experiences of these three countries to adaptation as of yet. This thesis seeks to report on the outcomes of water markets in three cases with special attention to the following adaptation questions: Can water markets be a tool to address increasing variability in water supply; and what are the necessary environmental, political, and historic conditions for a market to be successful in allocating water resources under situations of scarcity? The experiences of these three cases yield the following conclusions about the use of water markets in climate change adaptation: the degree of existing infrastructure for water storage and transportation must be considered in the implementation of markets; water markets must be continually revised to internalize local third party effects; transaction costs must be minimized if markets are to serve increased short-term variability in water supply; sustainable outcomes are most readily met when markets approximate “cap-and-trade” programs; and the involvement of local institutions in market design will support market activity and the achievement of localized adaptation goals.
5
Dwyer, Brian J. "Aspects of governance and public participation in remediation of the Murray-Darling Basin." Thesis, 2004. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/776.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis addresses the question “What is the essence of the Murray Darling river system conundrum that is usually posed as an issue of environmental remediation?”- following perceptions of problems in catchment strategy formulation regarding project selection and public consultation. The question is initially seen as having four facets – governance, public, participation and remediation. An initial literature review indicated that previous examination of these topics seemed insufficiently radical or comprehensive for the enquiry’s purposes, seeming not to attribute full humanness to members of the public. A fieldwork program of quasi-anthropological nature was conducted. Interpretation of the fieldwork reports focuses primarily on the lack of attribution of full humanness to members of the public. Interpretive techniques including a phenomenological-style process was applied and found that the district houses a number of unrecognised people “nexors’ occupying linking or nexus roles who exercise personal skills and initiatives to underpin effective remediation outcomes. Towards the end of the fieldwork program, further literature indicated that the initial four-facet nature of the enquiry should be reformulated, to include the overall nature of western society as it appears in the district (in place of participation), to reconstitute the concept of remediation more radically. Governance as a topic is broader than the ways in which it appears in the examined district, and suitable hybridizing of competing world view concepts remains unresolved in this thesis
6
Shahjahan, Mosharefa. "Integrated river basin management for the Ganges: lessons from the Murray-Darling and Mekong River Basins (a Bangladesh perspective)." 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/2440/49983.
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This thesis examines the applicability of the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) model of Integrated River Basin Management to the Ganges Basin by utilising the lessons from the Mekong experience of adopting the MDB model. The Ganges is one of the major rivers in the world and the sharing of its water has long been an issue of dispute between the riparian countries. Fragmented and uncoordinated upstream management of the Ganges has caused serious ecological and economic loss in the downstream environment posing a threat to future sustainability of river resources. Cooperation among the riparian countries of the Ganges in order to embrace an integrated and basin-wide management approach is rapidly becoming more important. Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM) is a concept widely advocated in different forums for managing the river basins of the world and is adopted in many transboundary river basins. The Australian example of managing the Murray-Darling Basin is considered as a model in the field. The Murray-Darling Basin Commission is well known internationally as a good example of a multi-jurisdictional water management institution. Similar river basin institutions are also evolving in other regions such as the Mekong River Commission for the management of the Mekong River in South-East Asia. The countries sharing the Ganges could learn lessons from the Murray-Darling and Mekong experiences and adopt a basin-wide approach for the better management of the Ganges. However, the policy transfer from a developed country to a developing country context is a challenging process. The highly pertinent contextual differences in social, economic, political, environmental and hydrological settings of the three cases need to be carefully addressed. The research critically examines these factors in the Murray-Darling, Mekong and the Ganges contexts, identifies the similarities and differences between them and attempts to understand the influence/s of these in the policy transfer or policy development process. This research adopted multiple-case studies involving both qualitative and quantitative methods. The cases of the Murray-Darling and Mekong were studied to understand the process and to utilise the lessons learned for the institutional development towards integrated and basin-wide approach for the Ganges. The study analyses the interview results from the experts in the relevant fields to get an insight of different issues and also to collect their opinions. The responses from the stakeholder interviews in Bangladesh were analysed to understand their perspective in this regard. The thesis concludes that adoption of the Murray-Darling Basin model of integrated management needs modification in the Ganges context and recommends a specific institutional structure for the basin-wide management of the Ganges. The thesis contributes to an area of knowledge in recent times by providing a greater understanding of the Integrated River Basin Management in a multi-jurisdictional context. It critically examines the issues in policy transfer from a developed to a developing country focussing on a little studied but significant international river basin, the Ganges. It is hoped that this thesis will contribute towards better policy options for the sustainable management of the international river system.http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1321536
Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Adelaide, School of Social Sciences, 2008
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Shahjahan, Mosharefa. "Integrated river basin management for the Ganges: lessons from the Murray-Darling and Mekong River Basins (a Bangladesh perspective)." Thesis, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/2440/49983.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis examines the applicability of the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) model of
Integrated River Basin Management to the Ganges Basin by utilising the lessons from the
Mekong experience of adopting the MDB model. The Ganges is one of the major rivers in
the world and the sharing of its water has long been an issue of dispute between the
riparian countries. Fragmented and uncoordinated upstream management of the Ganges
has caused serious ecological and economic loss in the downstream environment posing a
threat to future sustainability of river resources. Cooperation among the riparian countries
of the Ganges in order to embrace an integrated and basin-wide management approach is
rapidly becoming more important.
Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM) is a concept widely advocated in different
forums for managing the river basins of the world and is adopted in many transboundary
river basins. The Australian example of managing the Murray-Darling Basin is considered
as a model in the field. The Murray-Darling Basin Commission is well known
internationally as a good example of a multi-jurisdictional water management institution.
Similar river basin institutions are also evolving in other regions such as the Mekong River
Commission for the management of the Mekong River in South-East Asia. The countries
sharing the Ganges could learn lessons from the Murray-Darling and Mekong experiences
and adopt a basin-wide approach for the better management of the Ganges. However, the
policy transfer from a developed country to a developing country context is a challenging
process. The highly pertinent contextual differences in social, economic, political,
environmental and hydrological settings of the three cases need to be carefully addressed.
The research critically examines these factors in the Murray-Darling, Mekong and the
Ganges contexts, identifies the similarities and differences between them and attempts to
understand the influence/s of these in the policy transfer or policy development process.
This research adopted multiple-case studies involving both qualitative and quantitative
methods. The cases of the Murray-Darling and Mekong were studied to understand the
process and to utilise the lessons learned for the institutional development towards
integrated and basin-wide approach for the Ganges. The study analyses the interview
results from the experts in the relevant fields to get an insight of different issues and also to
collect their opinions. The responses from the stakeholder interviews in Bangladesh were analysed to understand their perspective in this regard. The thesis concludes that adoption
of the Murray-Darling Basin model of integrated management needs modification in the
Ganges context and recommends a specific institutional structure for the basin-wide
management of the Ganges.
The thesis contributes to an area of knowledge in recent times by providing a greater
understanding of the Integrated River Basin Management in a multi-jurisdictional context.
It critically examines the issues in policy transfer from a developed to a developing country
focussing on a little studied but significant international river basin, the Ganges. It is hoped
that this thesis will contribute towards better policy options for the sustainable
management of the international river system.Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Adelaide, School of Social Sciences, 2008
Books on the topic "Murray -Darling Rivers environmental policy"
1
Hammer, Chris. The river: A journey through the Murray-Darling Basin. Carlton, Vic: Melbourne University Press, 2011.
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2
Water policy reform: Lessons in sustainability from the Murray Darling Basin. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2012.
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3
Simons, Margaret. Cry Me a River: The Tragedy of the Murray-Darling Basin. Black Inc., 2020.
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4
Anjali, Bhat, and World Bank, eds. Institutional and policy analysis of river basin management: The Murray Darling River Basin, Australia. [Washington, D.C: World Bank, 2005.
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5
Kingsford, Richard, ed. Lake Eyre Basin Rivers. CSIRO Publishing, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/9781486300792.
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Water is scarce in the Lake Eyre Basin in the heart of Australia. The region goes through natural cycles of boom and bust, and the flooding of the basin rivers is accompanied by spectacular responses from wildlife and vegetation. However, the Lake Eyre Basin faces the threat of diversion of water from rivers and wetlands and development of floodplains for irrigation and mining. Around the world, such water resource developments have caused widespread degradation of rivers and loss of habitats.
Lake Eyre Basin Rivers outlines the environmental, social and economic values of the rivers from a diverse range of perspectives, including science, tourism, economy, engineering, policy, Traditional Owners and pastoralists. It describes the current state of the environment and the past and ongoing threats to the river systems, drawing on stories from the Murray-Darling Basin. It also provides direction for ensuring that the rivers remain free-flowing to service the environment and future generations.
This book is a valuable reference for environment and government agencies, industries and policy-makers concerned with the region and will be of interest to the communities of the Lake Eyre Basin.
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Rodríguez, Misael Ariza. Climate Change and Environmental Policy in Freshwater Ecosystems: The Case of the Murray Darling Basin in Australia. Independently Published, 2014.
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7
Saintilan, Neil, and Ian Overton, eds. Ecosystem Response Modelling in the Murray-Darling Basin. CSIRO Publishing, 2010. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/9780643100213.
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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.
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Schmandt, Jurgen, Aysegül Kibaroglu, Regina Buono, and Sephra Thomas, eds. Sustainability of Engineered Rivers In Arid Lands. Cambridge University Press, 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/9781108261142.
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This interdisciplinary volume examines how nine arid or semi-arid river basins with thriving irrigated agriculture are doing now and how they may change between now and mid-century. The rivers studied are the Colorado, Euphrates-Tigris, Jucar, Limarí, Murray-Darling, Nile, Rio Grande, São Francisco, and Yellow. Engineered dams and distribution networks brought large benefits to farmers and cities, but now the water systems face multiple challenges, above all climate change, reservoir siltation, and decreased water flows. Unchecked, they will see reduced food production and endanger the economic livelihood of basin populations. The authors suggest how to respond to these challenges without loss of food production, drinking water, or environmental health. The analysis of the political, hydrological, and environmental conditions within each basin gives policymakers, engineers, and researchers interested in the water/sustainability nexus a better understanding of engineered rivers in arid lands.
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Nambiar, Sadanandan, and Ian Ferguson. New Forests. CSIRO Publishing, 2005. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/9780643093089.
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There is no question that the timber industry needs to adopt sustainable practices that ensure a future for the industry. This book goes well beyond simply growing commercial tree plantations for wood production. It explores new forests that can supply environmental services such as salinity mitigation and carbon sequestration together with commercial wood production in an environment beyond the boundaries of traditional forestry.
New Forests targets agricultural landscapes affected by salinity and which generally have rainfall less than 650 mm per year. The book addresses vital issues such as where tree planting might best be pursued, what species and technologies should be used for establishment and later management, how productivity can be improved, what mix of environmental services and commercial goods is optimum, and whether the likely net benefits justify the change in land use and requisite investment.
While the book is focussed on the low-rainfall, agricultural, inland zone of the Murray-Darling Basin wherever possible the scope of most chapters has been expanded to synthesise generic information applicable to other regions in Australia and elsewhere.
The authors provide a comprehensive account of all the issues relevant to the development of these new forests, covering soils, the bio-physical environment, water use and irrigation strategies - including the use of wastewater, silviculture, pests and diseases, wood quality and products, and economics and policy implications.
Book chapters on the topic "Murray -Darling Rivers environmental policy"
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Powell, Joseph M. "Interregional Environmental Policy in Australia’s Murray-Darling Basin." In The GeoJournal Library, 55–73. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands, 1998. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4888-7_3.
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Frawley, Jodi. "“Dancing to the Billabong’s Tune”: Oral History in the Environmental Histories of Murray–Darling Basin Rivers." In Telling Environmental Histories, 51–80. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63772-3_3.
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"Freshwater, Fish and the Future: Proceedings of the Global Cross-Sectoral Conference." In Freshwater, Fish and the Future: Proceedings of the Global Cross-Sectoral Conference, edited by John D. Koehn. American Fisheries Society, 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.47886/9789251092637.ch10.
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<em>Abstract</em> .—The collection and use of data to manage the freshwater fisheries of Australia’s Murray–Darling basin (MDB) has a poor history of success. While there was limited assessment data for early subsistence and commercial fisheries, even after more robust data became available during the 1950s its quality varied across jurisdictions and was often poorly collated, assessments were not completed, and the data were underutilized by management. The fishery for Murray Cod <em>Maccullochella peelii </em> is given as an example, where the fishery declined to the point of closure and then the decline continued to the extent that Murray Cod was listed as a threatened species and all harvest now only occurs through the recreational fishery. Lessons from such poor population assessments have not been fully learned, however, as there remains a paucity of harvest data for this recreational fishery. Without a proper assessment, a true economic valuation of this fishery has not been made. As the MDB is Australia’s food bowl, there are competing demands for water use by agriculture, and without a proper assessment of the worth of the fishery, it is difficult for Murray Cod to be truly considered in either economic or sociopolitical discussions. The poor state of MDB rivers and their fish populations (including Murray Cod) has, however, resulted in political pressure for the development of the sustainable rivers audit, a common assessment method for riverine environmental condition monitoring. This audit undertakes standardized sampling for fish and a range of other variables at a number of fixed and randomly selected sites on a 3-year rotating basis. While the sustainable rivers audit has provided a range of data indicating that the condition of rivers is generally very poor, these data have yet to be fully utilized to determine the potential state of the fisheries (such as Murray Cod) or to set targets for rehabilitation, such as for environmental flows. While, to date, data analyses have been somewhat restricted by fiscal constraints, more comprehensive use of data, together with full fishery valuations, should be seen as the way forward for improved management.
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"Freshwater, Fish and the Future: Proceedings of the Global Cross-Sectoral Conference." In Freshwater, Fish and the Future: Proceedings of the Global Cross-Sectoral Conference, edited by John D. Koehn. American Fisheries Society, 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.47886/9789251092637.ch10.
Full textAbstract:
<em>Abstract</em> .—The collection and use of data to manage the freshwater fisheries of Australia’s Murray–Darling basin (MDB) has a poor history of success. While there was limited assessment data for early subsistence and commercial fisheries, even after more robust data became available during the 1950s its quality varied across jurisdictions and was often poorly collated, assessments were not completed, and the data were underutilized by management. The fishery for Murray Cod <em>Maccullochella peelii </em> is given as an example, where the fishery declined to the point of closure and then the decline continued to the extent that Murray Cod was listed as a threatened species and all harvest now only occurs through the recreational fishery. Lessons from such poor population assessments have not been fully learned, however, as there remains a paucity of harvest data for this recreational fishery. Without a proper assessment, a true economic valuation of this fishery has not been made. As the MDB is Australia’s food bowl, there are competing demands for water use by agriculture, and without a proper assessment of the worth of the fishery, it is difficult for Murray Cod to be truly considered in either economic or sociopolitical discussions. The poor state of MDB rivers and their fish populations (including Murray Cod) has, however, resulted in political pressure for the development of the sustainable rivers audit, a common assessment method for riverine environmental condition monitoring. This audit undertakes standardized sampling for fish and a range of other variables at a number of fixed and randomly selected sites on a 3-year rotating basis. While the sustainable rivers audit has provided a range of data indicating that the condition of rivers is generally very poor, these data have yet to be fully utilized to determine the potential state of the fisheries (such as Murray Cod) or to set targets for rehabilitation, such as for environmental flows. While, to date, data analyses have been somewhat restricted by fiscal constraints, more comprehensive use of data, together with full fishery valuations, should be seen as the way forward for improved management.