Journal ArticleDOI
Lessons from adaptation to sustain freshwater environments in the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia
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TLDR
A range of climate change adaptation measures for freshwater ecosystem conservation in the Murray-Darling Basin (the Basin) are outlined in this paper, including higher, long-term allocations of water to the environment, reviewing water allocation on a cyclical basis, allocating an equal or greater share of available water in dry years, and environmental works and measures to use less water to conserve wetlands.Abstract:
Governance of Australia's Murray–Darling Basin (the Basin) is frequently lauded as an example to other river managers globally. Freshwater environments in the Basin are particularly vulnerable to water scarcity and change. In this paper, governmental responses are assessed to draw global lessons on climate change adaptation for rivers. A range of climate change adaptation measures for freshwater ecosystem conservation in the Basin are outlined namely: higher, long-term allocations of water to the environment; reviewing water allocation on a cyclical basis; allocating an equal or greater share of available water to the environment in dry years; and environmental works and measures to use less water to conserve wetlands. Examples of poor translation of science into policy that do not adequately consider the risks, costs, and benefits of adaptation interventions are explored. Adaptation policy in the Basin illustrates the risks of heavy reliance on infrastructure, of the high costs of trade-offs between environmental measures versus socio-economic and political concerns, and of dependence on too few measures. Lessons include the need for rigorous evaluation of risks, costs, and benefits to minimize perverse outcomes, and for adequate incentives and penalties for implementation of adaptation policies across governance scales. It is concluded that rather than a focus on only a few interventions, such as environmental flows, better adaptation practice requires deployment of a suite of different but complementary measures that spreads risk and maximizes resilience to climate variability and change. WIREs Clim Change 2013, 4:429–438. doi: 10.1002/wcc.230
Conflict of interest: The author has declared no conflicts of interest for this article.
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Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Wetlands In a Changing Climate: Science, Policy and Management
William R. Moomaw,Gail L. Chmura,Gillian T. Davies,C. M. Finlayson,Beth A. Middleton,Susan M. Natali,James E. Perry,Nigel T. Roulet,Ariana E. Sutton-Grier +8 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors synthesize recent research on status and climate vulnerability of freshwater and saltwater wetlands, and their contribution to addressing climate change (carbon cycle, adaptation, resilience) and demonstrate the need to prevent drying of wetlands and thawing of permafrost by disturbances and rising temperatures to protect wetland carbon stores and climate adaptation/resiliency ecosystem services.
Book Chapter
Australia's Murray-Darling basin Freshwater ecosystem conservation
James Pittock,Max Finlayson +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors critique current river-management programs, including the proposed 2011 Basin Plan for Australia's Murray-Darling Basin, focusing primarily on implementing environmental flows and ignore other important conservation and adaptation measures, such as strategically located freshwater-protected areas.
Journal ArticleDOI
Water Security and Society: Risks, Metrics, and Pathways
Dustin Garrick,Jim W. Hall +1 more
TL;DR: This work examines water security indicators and indices to identify thresholds for water-related risks across multiple dimensions of water security and examines how these vary across different scales and socioeconomic contexts.
Journal ArticleDOI
Water planning and hydro-climatic change in the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia.
TL;DR: It is indicated that better water planning and a more complete understanding of the effects of irrigation on regional climate evapotranspiration could increase the overall benefits of consumptive and non-consumptive water use and improve riparian environments under climate variability.
Water for food security and nutrition
TL;DR: The High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) report as mentioned in this paper has been approved by the HLPE Steering Committee and is made publicly available and its reproduction and dissemination is encouraged.
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