Peter Cullen Trust National Fellows Network
Water Resources of Northern Australia A Framework for the Future
Water Resources of Northern Australia
Australia is the driest inhabited continent on
the planet, with the least amount of water in
rivers, the lowest run-off and the smallest area
of permanent wetlands of all continents. The
landscape of Northern Australia is waterless
for eight months of the year, and receives
around 1 million gigalitres of rain during the
wet, which is a third of the nation’s rainfall.
Northern Australia represents one of the largest natural areas
remaining on Earth. It stretches more than 3,000 km from east
to west, and includes expansive tropical savannas, rainforests, and
free flowing rivers that support a variety of unique ecosystems,
economic pursuits and social values. Compared to southern
Australia, northern Australia is relatively underdeveloped.
Rapid growth and development in Northern Australia
presents inevitable challenges for water management
including water availability, water allocation, water
infrastructure and water science.
(National Water Commission, 2010)
Many consider northern
Australia to be the next food
bowl for Australia and Asia,
particularly with Asian food
markets set to double by 2050.
The pastoral zone currently
covers more than 90% of
Northern Australia’s land
mass and future expansion of
agriculture will put increasing
pressure on ground and surface
water. Irrigated agriculture to
support food crops, fibre crops,
forestry and ethanol continues
to expand and develop across
all of Northern Australia
and relies predominantly on
groundwater supplies.
As many rivers of the south reach their
limit for water resource use, and with
climate change likely to make climate
variations more extreme, northern
Australia represents an attractive area
for continued expansion of agriculture.
Dreams of a food bowl to feed
Asia are not supported by the
science. It is almost guaranteed to
be an expensive, taxpayer-funded
environmental disaster”. Gavan
McFadzean, Wilderness Society,
Australian Financial Review
The mining and oil and gas industries
also continue to expand in northern
Australia, buoyed by high commodity
prices and strong export markets. Mining
is already valued at over $9 billion per
year, and with extensive exploration of
minerals and unconventional gas, this will
increase. Significant water resources are
required to maintain this momentum.
renowned, and provide important
opportunities for tourism and recreation.
Extreme seasonality of water availability,
limited areas of suitable soil, the potential
for a host of environmental woes, such as
have already been experienced in southern
Australia, and the tyranny of distance pose
significant challenges to large irrigation
schemes and to industries requiring a
year-round water supply. Experience also
demonstrates that rapid development can
set an ecosystem on a trajectory of decline
that can become either very expensive,
and in some cases, impossible to restore.
Northern Australia has a natural
harshness and beauty, and is iconic
part of the nation’s identity.
We as Fellows of the Peter Cullen Trust
2012 believe that it is time for a public
conversation on the future of water
resource development in northern
Australia, and some difficult choices.
What do we stand to lose?
Northern Australia boasts unique and
relatively unmodified ecosystems, which
are highly valued locally, nationally and
internationally. Rivers in Queensland
and the Kimberly Region, and the
wetlands in Kakadu are internationally
Northern Australia supports
the largest area of natural
wetlands in Australia and the
largest continuous area of
tropical savanna in the world.
Aboriginal people are
key to the future
Almost half of our indigenous population
reside in Northern Australia. In the
Northern Territory Aboriginal people
account for 70% of those living in remote
areas. This population is ‘young’ and is
projected to grow relatively quickly, whilst
non-Indigenous populations tend to be
‘older’ and are projected to grow slowly.
Northern Australia is critically
important to Aboriginal people,
and the future of northern
Australia is intimately linked to
the future of Aboriginal people.
Aboriginal people are amongst the most
significant land holders in the region,
holding 49% of the Northern Territory
and more than 29% of Western Australia.
Economies: Now and Future
A Framework for the Future
The economy of Northern Australia is inextricably
linked to the water resources of the region. All
economies of northern Australia are dependent on the
environment: mining, agriculture, fisheries, tourism.
Almost 15 years ago Peter Cullen put forward three propositions
that he believed would contribute to a better future for rural
communities and natural resources. These propositions were:
that the ecosystem sets the limit of what is possible; that
creation of learning communities is essential for adaptation to
uncertainty and that integration across disciplines and sectors
is required to find solutions within an whole system context.
In looking to the future for northern Australia, the Fellows of the
Peter Cullen Trust 2012, influenced by these three propositions
of Peter Cullen, have identified 3 key areas of focus: strengthen
governance arrangements across Northern Australia; attract
responsible investment and build and embrace regional capability.
Agriculture
Fisheries
Environ
services
Tourism
Strong governance arrangements that enable all parties
to have input into how the water resources are managed are
critical for achieving development that benefits all of the
community. Central to this is the need to have locally-driven
decisions on planning and management of water resources.
Mining
Environmental services thus provide a
significant proportion of the current economy,
and future development must consider the
interrelationship of economies.
Growing the economy of Northern
Australia cannot be achieved without
further development of water resources.
A regulatory environment is needed to avoid repeating
mistakes made elsewhere. Ecosystem water needs, extraction
limits and water quality requirements need to be consistently
set. Mine planning and operations need to be incorporated
into regional water planning. Recasting the National Water
Initiative to better incorporate and represent the water
reform agenda for northern Australia will also allow northern
environmental and social water needs to be prioritised.
Cultural rights to water need to be established. The National
Water Initiative requires governments to establish cultural rights
in access to water and to have greater Aboriginal participation
in water planning. By applying Strategic
Indigenous Reserves across the north,
Aboriginal social, spiritual and cultural
objectives can be readily embedded in
water planning and management.
Responsible investment should be
pursued through industry initiatives
that promote responsible supply
chains and green branding, as well as
innovation in industry best practice. A
key part of responsible investment
must include a commitment to fairly
sharing the benefits from development
with the people in the region.
The economy of the north can be
built on high quality, low impact
production, particularly targeting the
fastest growing region in the world,
with innovative technologies and
sustainable approaches tailored to an
exceptional and unique environment.
Investing in people through the
establishment of knowledge hubs will
create a learning community to build
regional capacity to achieve effective
engagement in policy development
processes and management of land and
water. Ownership within the policy making
process ensures successful water resource
outcomes which are maintained over time.
Aboriginal communities, farmers,
scientists, business and politicians must
work together to find a way to capture
the potential economic opportunities
offered in the north while not unravelling
its extraordinary environment. Science
must continue to inform the debate on
the potential development prospects
based on the unique ecology of the north.
In the words of Peter Cullen “In our
two hundred years of living in this
country, white Australians have made
many mistakes and learned some
harsh lessons about living in our dry
country.” Northern Australia presents
an enormous opportunity to learn
from the past; to think differently today
and to work in partnership to create a
future of which he would be proud.
Want to know more? To know more about the Peter Cullen Trust go
to http://www.petercullentrust.com.au/
Contact Us
Email: [email protected]
The Peter Cullen Legacy Every year, the Peter Cullen
Trust invests in people to carry
on the legacy of Peter Cullen
AO (1943–2008), in bridging
the interface between, science,
people and the environment.
Peter Cullen had a passion for
science and the environment,
and sought a consensus-based
model for achieving engagement
between science and policy. The
core of this passion was articulated
via three propositions for natural
resource management: Ecosystem
sets the limits of what is possible;
A learning community is needed;
and Integration is fundamental.
The ecological limits and character
of an ecosystem sets the criteria
for designing a policy, and in
establishing boundaries for policy
development and implementation.
Policy development is conducted
in a complex space with competing
stakeholders, political processes
and uncertainty in science.
To tackle such problems effectively,
learning communities are needed
so that values, cultural differences,
and opposing worldviews can
be discussed and some degree
of common understanding
or consensus reached.
The multidimensional nature of
natural resource management
demands that integration is
required across social, environmental,
economic and technological
dimensions, and where goals conflict.
The views expressed are those of the PCT 2012 Fellows and are not necessarily
held by other individuals or organisation’s associated with the trust.
Images have been provided by the Northern Australia Hub of the
National Environmental Research Program (NERP), The Department
of Environment and Heritage Protection (QLD), Tropical Rivers and
Costal Knowledge (TRaCK), and Christian Sprogue Photography.