Managing the cumulative effects of incremental development in freshwater resources

Environmental and Planning Law Journal

Volumn 20, Issue 2, 2003, Pages 85-94

  Nevill, Jon ^a  

^a OnlyOnePlanet Consulting   (Australia)

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EID: 33645143454     PISSN: 0813300X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Note

References (30)

1. ICM is used in this article in preference to the related phrase Total Catchment Management (TCM). I define ICM as integrated natural resource management (NRM) within the spatial framework provided by catchments.
2. In the Murray-Darling Basin (Australia's largest river basin), if all existing water allocations were implemented, 90% of the average natural flow would be diverted. The Basin now experiences drought level flows three years out of every four, compared to one in 20 years under natural circumstances (Commonwealth of Australia 1998:22). In spite of gross over-allocation of the water resource, the Murray-Darling Basin Ministerial Council has difficulty implementing a cap on water usage (Murray-Darling Basin Ministerial Council 1998; Murray-Darling Basin Commission 1998).
3. The NRM framework now being developed may be able to cap vegetation clearance and wetland draining, but it is in early stages yet. Caps on forest clearing can and are being implemented through the Forest Practices Planning process. There are caps prescribed under the Permanent Forest Estate Policy at a State (80% of 1996 forest area maintained), bioregion and community level. Vulnerable land, and rare and endangered forest communities are currently protected under a moratorium on clearing (DPIWE email, 26 September 2002, N Wright).
4. In practice, while the Tasmanian government has been applying the statutory water planning process partly on a "catchment stress" priority, it has a commitment to extend the process over time to all catchments where significant water harvesting is taking place.
5. Hardin G, "The Tragedy of the Commons" (1968) 162 Science 1243, available at www.onlyoneplanet.com.au.
6. Odum W, "Environmental Degradation and the Tyranny of Small Decisions" (1982) 32(9) Bioscience at 728, available at www.onlyoneplanet.com.au.
7. Nevill J, Australian Inventories of Freshwater Ecosystems (2002), available at www.onlyoneplanet.com.au.
8. At the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development (The Earth Summit) held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, a series of principles on environment and development were adopted (the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development). This included Principle 15, commonly known as the precautionary principle: "In order to protect the environment, the precautionary approach shall be widely applied by the States according to their capabilities. Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation. " Subsection 3.5.1 of the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Environment (COAG 1992) in addition to including the above definition, adds the following as a means of clarifying Australia's application of the principle: "In the application of the precautionary principle, public and private decisions should be guided by: (i) careful evaluation to avoid, wherever practicable, serious or irreversible damage to the environment, and (ii) an assessment of the risk-weighted consequence of various options. " Justice Paul Stein has addressed the question of the application of the principle in Australian jurisdictions: Stein P, Are Decision-Makers too Cautious with the Precautionary Principle? (paper presented to the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales Annual Conference, 14-15 October 1999) http://www.attgendept.nsw.gov.au/sc/sc.nsf/pages/Stein_3.
9. Nevill J, Freshwater Biodiversity: Protecting Freshwater Ecosystems in the Face of Infrastructure Development (Water Research Foundation of Australia, Australian National University, 2001) www.netspace.net.au/~jnevill/freshwater-a.htm.
10. See the discussion of WA programs in Nevill J, Freshwater Biodiversity: Protecting Freshwater Ecosystems in the Face of Infrastructure Development (Water Research Foundation of Australia, Australian National University, 2001) www.netspace.net.au/~jnevill/freshwater-a.htm.
11. Maher M, Nevill J and Nichols P Impro ving the Legislative Basis for River Management in Australia (Two-volume report commissioned by Land and Water Australia (Australian Commonwealth Government), Canberra, 2002) available through www.lwa.gov.au or www.users.bigpond.com/jon.nevill/.
12. NRM within a catchment framework achieves the same result, of course.
13. It remains to be seen how the WA process, which shows promise, will be applied in practice.
14. Maher M, Nevill J and Nichols P Impro ving the Legislative Basis for River Management in Australia (Two-volume report commissioned by Land and Water Australia (Australian Commonwealth Government), Canberra, 2002) available through www.lwa.gov.au or www.users.bigpond.com/jon.nevill/.
15. Water and Rivers Commission, Western Australia, Waterways WA: A Policy for Statewide Management of Waterways in Western Australia (Statewide Policy No 4, Draft for Public Comment, Water and Rivers Commission, Perth, 2000).
16. Diagram after David Dettrick.
17. This is explicitly recognised, for example, by the NSW framework groundwater policy where it is stated that: "the policy is designed to establish. a coordinated program for policy development, reporting and review" (NSW Government 1997:10).
18. For example, temperature, oxygen content, nutrient status, turbidity, salinity, etc.
19. ARMCANZ/ANZECC National Water Quality Management Strategy: National Principles for the Provision of Water for Ecosystems (Agriculture and Resource Management Council of Australia, and Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council, Canberra, 1996).
20. This must take into account the usage of any aquifer linked with the surface flow.
21. "Important" from an economic viewpoint.
22. For further details see the discussion of State water legislation in Nevill J, Freshwater Biodiversity: Protecting Freshwater Ecosystems in the Face of Infrastructure Development (Water Research Foundation of Australia, Australian National University, 2001) www.netspace.net.au/~jnevill/freshwater-a.htm.
23. Maher M, Nevill J and Nichols P Impro ving the Legislative Basis for River Management in Australia (Two-volume report commissioned by Land and Water Australia (Australian Commonwealth Government), Canberra, 2002) available through www.lwa.gov.au or www.users.bigpond.com/jon.nevill/.
24. Nevill J, Freshwater Biodiversity: Protecting Freshwater Ecosystems in the Face of Infrastructure Development (Water Research Foundation of Australia, Australian National University, 2001) www.netspace.net.au/~jnevill/freshwater-a.htm., refer to section 4.4.
25. Coffey F, "Assessment of Water Resource Plans under the Water Act 2000 (Qld): Ecological Outcomes and Environmental Flow Objectives in the Context of the Precautionary Principle and Sustainable Management" (2001) 18 EPLJ 410.
26. Stein P, Are Decision-Makers too Cautious with the Precautionary Principle? (paper presented to the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales Annual Conference, 14-15 October 1999) http://www.attgendept.nsw.gov.au/sc/sc.nsf/pages/Stein_3.
27. Nevill J, Nichols P and Maher M, Assessing the Sustainability of Freshwater Programs (paper presented to the Third Annual Stream Management Conference, Brisbane, August 2001) www.netspace.net.au/~jnevill/freshwater-a.htm.
28. The legislative and policy frameworks of Australian States are discussed in Nevill J, Freshwater Biodiversity: Protecting Freshwater Ecosystems in the Face of Infrastructure Development (Water Research Foundation of Australia, Australian National University, 2001) www.netspace.net.au/~jnevill/freshwater-a.htm, Ch 6.
29. More recently, the frameworks of Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania are discussed by Maher M, Nevill J and Nichols P Impro ving the Legislative Basis for River Management in Australia (Two-volume report commissioned by Land and Water Australia (Australian Commonwealth Government), Canberra, 2002) available through www.lwa.gov.au or www.users.bigpond.com/jon.nevill/.
30. Nevill J, Freshwater Biodiversity: Protecting Freshwater Ecosystems in the Face of Infrastructure Development (Water Research Foundation of Australia, Australian National University, 2001) www.netspace.net.au/~jnevill/freshwater-a.htm, Ch 6.