Integrated Catchment Management
Key Elements
- Julie Burke
Integrated Catchment Management:
What is it?
›
Management of a watershed
›
Taking account of all competing interests:
Economic use of land and water
Environmental concerns
Social and cultural uses and values
›
Taking advantage of knowledge in all disciplines:
Water engineering, economics, ecology, agricultural
studies, forestry, sociology etc
Integrated Catchment Management:
Key Elements
›
driving issues
›
identification of assets to be protected
›
mechanisms to manage trade-offs and processes to
manage negotiations
›
measurable and simple objectives set
›
Assessment of scenarios against objectives
›
clear roles, responsibilities and accountabilities
›
capacity of partners to carry out roles
›
mechanisms to monitor, evaluate and improve the
approach
In the Murray-Darling Basin,
the Driving Issues are
›
Water sharing
›
Water quality
›
Riverine Ecosystem Health
›
Biodiversity
Basin assets in the Broad (Goals)
› Healthy Rivers
› Healthy Ecosystems
› Productive and Innovative
Industries
› Healthy regional communities
Some Specific Basin assets
› Adelaide’s drinking water
› Barmah-Millewa Forest and Narran
Lakes (Ramsar sites)
› Murray Irrigation Districts
› Lake Victoria (cultural site)
Charleville
Warrego
Balonne
QUEENSLAND
Brisbane
Border
Barwon
Moree
Bourke
SOUTH
AUSTRALIA
Darling
Meninde
Lakes
Morgan
Macquarie
Dubbo
Menindee
NEW SOUTH WALES
Forbes
Lake
Vi ctoria
Lachlan
Mildura
Adelaide
Murray
Sydney
Murrumbidgie
Murray Bridge
Canberra
Swan Hill
Albury
VICTORIA
Melbourne
200 km
Managing Trade-offs
› Need to limit degradation of assets
› MDB will set limits on degradation of:
»
»
»
»
Water quantity and flow
Water quality
Riverine health
Biodiversity
› MDBC calls these limits “targets”
› These targets are a numerical form of
objective against which all scenarios
can be tested
Managing Trade-offs – Targets to protect assets
Within-valley target at site 4:
Protects town water supply
5. Management target
for sub-catchment:
Revegetation of 20% of
sub-catchment area
4
Within-valley target at site 2:
Protects irrigation water
supply
Major Town
5
2
Basin
objective
Major Wetland 3
Catchment
objectives
Irrigation
District
1
Within-valley target at site 3:
Protects wetland ecosystem
End of valley target at site 1
Protects downstream
Achievement of the target is the OBJECTIVE
Protection of the assets is the desired OUTCOME
Assets identified and targets set
at different scales
Scale determines who manages
negotiations and agrees targets
Basin -------------------------------- Commission
Catchment---------------------- States
Sub-catchment --------- CMOs
Managing Negotiations
› Identify stakeholders relevant to the
issues and the scale
› Involve them in setting of targets,
scenario development and assessment
› Everyone must have access to the
same information
Assigning Roles
› Assign and agree roles and
responsibilities
› Ensure mechanisms for reporting
against responsibilities to all
stakeholders
› Accountability, not blame
Capacity Building
› Capacities must match roles and
responsibilities
› Capacities include:
›
›
›
›
›
›
leadership
legal and institutional
financial
technical
knowledge base
cultural
Knowledge
Required at many stages
› Assessment of concerns (audit)
› Understanding of processes and drivers
(economic, environmental, social)
› Modeling of scenarios, including “do
nothing”
› Monitoring and Evaluation
Monitoring and Evaluation
› Monitor progress towards Objectives and
Outcomes
› Monitor and evaluate the PROCESS
› Inform all stakeholders
› Learn from successes and failures to inform
future actions
› all decisions are “interim” and must be tested
Issues
Assets
Trade-offs
Measurable and simple objectives
Scenario Assessment