Snowy River environmental flows post-2002: lessons to be learnt
Isobel Bender
A * , James Pittock A and Jane Roberts B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University, ACT 2601, Australia.
B PO Box 6191, O’Connor, ACT 2602, Australia.
Marine and Freshwater Research 73(4) 454-468 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF21209
Submitted: 27 October 2020 Accepted: 11 December 2021 Published: 7 February 2022
© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)
Abstract
In 2002, the Australian, New South Wales and Victorian governments agreed to the Snowy Water Inquiry Outcomes Implementation Deed for environmental flows to (in part) restore the health of the Snowy River in south-eastern Australia. This was the first legally binding commitment to deliver annual environmental flows in Australia. Twenty years on, we assess this Deed and its implementation to derive lessons that can inform environmental flows agreements globally. Information from governance documents, flow release data and interviews with stakeholders are used to evaluate the effectiveness of the Deed. The target of 212 GL year−1 from 2012 has not once been reached. In turn, we find that implementation has been hindered by release of too little water, overly complex institutions that lack ownership and accountability, and no provision for review of the Deed. The lessons for effective environmental flow institutions are: (a) set clear, science-based environmental restoration objectives with stakeholders; (b) make roles and responsibilities for implementation clear; (c) enable independent and transparent monitoring, reporting and regulation; and (d) undertake periodic review to incorporate new knowledge, and to adapt to climatic and other unanticipated changes.
Keywords: environmental flows, flow regime, hydropower, restoration agreements, Snowy River, water‐dependent ecosystems, water management, water entitlements.
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