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Environment Forest Ecosystems Forest Industries Forest Management Forest Products Greenhouse Gases NAFI Submissions Policy and Politics Renewable Energy Sustainability |
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Future Water Supplies for Australia’s Rural Industries and CommunitiesA scientific, sound and fair process for the allocation or re-distribution of Australia ’s limited water resources must take into account all the demands on those resources. Discrimination for or against land users on grounds unrelated to water use should be excluded from policy settings. The National Land and Water Resources Audit indicates that while at least one quarter of Australia ’s water management areas are over-allocated in other areas, there is a considerable volume of divertible resources that are not used for any productive purpose. A considerable degree of interest has been directed towards the regulation of landuse change activities, which are likely to have a significant impact on water resource availability. Options should be considered for independently regulating such water use. State and Federal governments have to date not shown adequate intention to consider the positive economic, social and environmental impacts associated with the water used by landuse change activities, such as plantation forestry. Research by the CRC for Catchment Hydrology indicates that tree crops covering less than 20%of a catchment area will exhibit little effect on water yields. Most plantations will cover far less than this proportion of a catchment, yet they will deliver a range of environmental benefits such as greenhouse gas sequestration, salinity remediation, renewable biomass energy resources, and greater biodiversity in the landscape. In addition to considering the most effective allocation approaches for water resources, this Inquiry should consider the importance of the links between water resources and natural resource management. The bushfires of 2003 affected over three million hectares of land in the top of the Snowy, Hume, Murrumbidgee and Murray catchments. The future loss of water resources during forest regeneration may be equivalent to one-eighth of the total water resources diverted in the Murray-Darling Basin each year. These effects will continue between 5 and at least 50 years from now. They present an urgent case for improved natural resource management. |
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