The Environment Institute Where ideas grow Striking the Balance between Food and Fibre Production...

The Environment InstituteWhere ideas grow

Striking the Balance between Food and Fibre Production and the Environment

Mike Young Executive Director, The Environment Institute

The Environment Institute

Life Impact The University of Adelaide

Environmental policy• Triple bottom line?• Environment first?

– Transition arrangements often confused with definition of final outcome to be pursued

Economic

EnvironmentalSocial



Getting the balance right• Recognise the difference between

– Identifying environmental objectives– The science of estimating how much water is

needed to deliver each environmental objective• The amount needed can be reduced by

improving institutional arrangements– But volumes needed will change as technology,

knowledge and institutional arrangements improve



Three important

observations



Scarcity is compromising Biodiversity!

After Vörösmarty and others (2010).



Users

Environment

River Flow

Environment

River Flow

Users

With 10% less rainfall



Water accounting matters• Improvements in water use efficiency come at a big cost to

rivers• Forests, farm dams, overland flow capture water• Need to assume groundwater is connected to a river• MDB Guide found that the cost of not dealing with water

accounting has major (in-equitable) consequences – up to 37% reduction in water entitlements if interception

excluded, only 29% if included• Water accounting risks need to be assigned so that their

distribution does not erode the environment’s interest



The MDB



Current building blocks• Hydrological integrity

– Bring in small farm dams, forestry, overland flow capture, etc

• Equitable risk sharing with Environment– Environment to be a major entitlement holder

• Subsidiarity for regional planning but not for environmental water– Uniform definition of SDL across the Basin built around a

114 year average less 3% allowance for adverse climate change

– But Environmental water held centrally



Suggested trade-offs in Guide

1. Conveyance to and thru mouth 9 yrs in 102. Prepared to lose 25% of red gum forests3. Most benefits from 3,000 GL to 4,000 GL

local and within region where reduction occurs



Entitlement-based planning

Conveyance water

Entitlements - Controlled watering- Irrigation, urban and Industrial uses

Conveyance

Entitlement shares

Uncontrolled floods and overland flows



A way forward1. Recognise that the collective environmental aspirations in existing plans need review2. The Act allows the SDLs to be defined in any way the Authority thinks appropriate – Section 23

(2) (c)3. Rather than a volumetric approach they could identify the portfolio of entitlements that should

be acquired for the environment places in regional environment trusts– Still need to define conveyance reserve– Define maximum limit on annual allocations as amount when all existing entitlements in a region receive

100% allocation– Grandfather in 100% of interception processes – linked to the entitlement system– Identify a proportion of each entitlement type to be acquired for the environment – A target portfolio– Purchase the portfolio needed– Place a significant proportion in environment trusts

4. Move forward step by step, monitoring, adjusting and learning with communities as the Basin goes forward

– Environmental infrastructure– Removing grazing from key areas– Buying entitlements

5. Commitment to keep on investing until health is restored– If the money is used wisely, there is enough on the table over $0.5million per irrigator

The Environment InstituteWhere ideas grow

www.adelaide.edu.au/environment

www.myoung.net.au

The Environment Institute Where ideas grow Striking the Balance between Food and Fibre Production...

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