NAWFA NEWSLETTER
Issue 2 July 2011
Northern Australia Water Futures Assessment
Welcome to the second edition of the Northern Australia Water Futures Assessment
(NAWFA) e-newsletter. This newsletter will provide you with updates on the progress of
the NAWFA program. Please advise us by return email if you do not wish to receive
further correspondence from us.
In this issue:
Findings of the Northern Australia aquatic ecological assets project
New Projects
-
Assessing the likely impacts of development on aquatic ecological assets in northern
Australia
Identifying tools and processes to capture/articulate Indigenous social and economic
aspirations with respect to water in northern Australia
TRaCK social and cultural values project
NAWFA legacy: knowledge and adoption
NAWFA is a multidisciplinary program being delivered jointly by the Department of Sustainability,
Environment, Water, Population and Communities and the National Water Commission, in close
collaboration with the Office of Northern Australia and state and territory government agencies.
Through the Raising National Water Standards program under Water for the Future, the Australian
Government allocated up to $13 million for projects for four years to 2012.
The Australian Government established the NAWFA in response to renewed interest in the
development of northern Australia. The NAWFA comprises of four programs; Water Resources,
Ecological, Cultural and Social and Knowledge Base. These programs will provide the science
needed to inform the development and protection of northern Australia’s water resources, so that
development is ecologically, culturally and economically sustainable.
For more information visit the NAWFA website: http://www.environment.gov.au/water/policyprograms/northern-australia/
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Findings of the Northern Australia aquatic ecological assets project
Northern Australia boasts a range of significant aquatic ecosystems and ecosystem types,
including estuaries, rivers, lakes and wetlands. To increase knowledge about these aquatic
ecosystems, the NAWFA funded the Northern Australia aquatic ecological assets project
which concluded in early 2011.
Key outputs and findings from this project included:
 Mapping and classification of the various aquatic ecosystems types (e.g. rivers,
lakes, floodplains) for all river basins of northern Australia. This mapping process,
using the draft Australian National Aquatic Ecosystem (ANAE) Classification Scheme,
revealed the extraordinary diversity and extent of aquatic ecosystems in northern
Australia and provides base level mapping for aquatic assets at a scale of 1:250,000.
This component of the project will contribute to refining the draft ANAE scheme,
which will provide a consistent approach to classifying aquatic ecosystem types
across Australia.
 Identifying potential High Ecological Value Aquatic Ecosystems (HEVAEs)
across northern Australia by trialling the draft HEVAE Framework being developed by
the Australian, state and territory governments. Potential HEVAEs were identified
using the framework’s six criteria of: diversity; distinctiveness; vital habitat;
evolutionary history; naturalness; and representativeness. Summary results of the
draft HEVAE framework trial are provided at Figure One. Lessons learnt from the
HEVAE trial in northern Australia will contribute to the development of the national
HEVAE Framework.
 Fine scale assessments for key focal catchments identified by jurisdictions as high
priority or planned development areas. The aims of these fine scale assessments
included identifying high priority aquatic ecological assets and understanding
ecological thresholds in relation to flow regimes and maintenance of aquatic
ecosystem assets. The project found that while flow-related threats to aquatic assets
are well understood in a generic sense, quantitative data and understanding of
ecological thresholds for particular fine-scale assets is lacking.
 Assessing the value and threats facing aquatic ecosystems in northern Australia.
The project found that maintaining natural water flow patterns is the best way to
protect the good condition of northern Australia’s aquatic ecosystems and the values
they support.
Figure One: Relative ecological value for each sub-catchment (referential to the entire study
region) based on each HEVAE Framework criterion.
New Projects
Assessing the likely impacts of development on aquatic ecological assets in
northern Australia
The latest project for the NAWFA Ecological program, Assessing the likely impacts of
development on aquatic ecological assets in northern Australia, will improve our
understanding of water-dependent ecological assets across northern Australia and the risks
to those assets arising from hydrologic changes due to water resource development and
climate change. The project will involve quantitative modelling to assess the likely impacts of
development and climate change and, based on these models, identify ecological thresholds
of concern in terms of ecological water requirements, key ecosystem processes and spatial
analysis of habitat use by key fauna. Using this information the project will recommend
management strategies and monitoring frameworks to assess and report on environmental
change against these impacts and thresholds.
The project is being conducted by the University of Western Australia in collaboration with
researchers from a variety of Australian universities and research organisations. The project
will be completed in early 2012.
Identifying tools and processes to capture/articulate Indigenous social and
economic aspirations with respect to water in northern Australia
Identifying tools and processes to capture/articulate Indigenous social and economic
aspirations with respect to water in northern Australia is a new project under the NAWFA
Cultural and Social program. The project will develop knowledge and understanding of
Indigenous social, cultural and economic aspirations with respect to land and water
management and development in northern Australia. This information will feed into
government initiatives that will inform policy-setting.
The project consists of four connected sub-projects which will result in:
- A background paper on sustainable Indigenous livelihoods which will include north
Australian Indigenous peoples’ aspirations for economic development and
identification of opportunities and strategies that will contribute to achieving these
aspirations. The paper will be fed into the first Indigenous Sustainable Development
Forum, run by the Office of Northern Australia.
- An Indigenous livelihood Implementation Strategy and a Research and Development
Agenda. Both will build on the above background paper to develop practical
strategies to support and develop sustainable Indigenous livelihoods into the future.
- Case studies which will evaluate the barriers and opportunities for a whole of
government approach to policy development, program management and service
delivery with respect to Indigenous livelihoods.
- Three case studies in each of the Kimberly, Top End, Gulf and Cape York regions
which will capture Indigenous knowledge of water management, use and means and
test the application of these in planning processes and policy decision making.
This project is being led by the North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management
Alliance and will be completed by early 2012.
TRaCK social and cultural values project
The TRaCK social and cultural values project is being led by CSIRO, in partnership with the
Tropical Rivers Coastal Knowledge Hub (TRaCK). This project will increase our
understanding of socio-cultural values, beliefs and practices held by various water using
groups across northern Australia and how these values can be better incorporated in water
planning and management decisions. The project will consist of three sub-projects:
-
Social and cultural values in the planning cycle, which will examine practical
ways to improve the recognition and incorporation of social and cultural
values at each stage of the adaptive water management planning cycle.
- Relative values of water for trade-offs, which will collect data on the relative
values of water for different purposes by different stakeholder groups, and
the response of different stakeholder groups to different development
scenarios that involve water quantity and/or quality trade-offs.
Management models for Indigenous water strategies, which will review international NRM comanagement models and recommend how aspects of these models can be used to improve
co-management of water in northern Australia.
This project will be completed in early 2012.
NAWFA legacy: knowledge and adoption
Numerous projects have taken place under the NAWFA, all with the overarching aim to inform
the protection and sustainable development of water resources in northern Australia. The
overarching objective of the knowledge and adoption activities is to increase the uptake and
impact of NAWFA project findings.
NAWFA knowledge and adoption activities will encourage key stakeholders to use the
NAWFA findings to inform decisions regarding water resources in northern Australia.
If you have any suggestions as to how the NAWFA knowledge and adoption activities may
help your organisation in making water management decisions, or would like to be consulted
about the synthesis products to be produced, please contact the NAWFA team at:
northern.assessment@environment.gov.au
Further information
Phone: 1800 218 478
Email: northern.assessment@environment.gov.au
Website: www.environment.gov.au/nawfa