A Policy Framework for Water as a Natural Resource Issue and How It Can Be Improved - Assignment Example

A POLICY FRAMEWORK FOR WATER AS A NATURAL RESOURCE ISSUE AND HOW IT CAN BE IMPROVED Submitted to (INSTRUCTOR NAME) By (STUDENT NAME) (APRIL15, 2009) WORD COUNT: 2264 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Contents…………………………………………………………………… 2 2. Abstract………………………………………………………………….. 3 3. Introduction: 3.1Background..................................................................................... 3.2 Purpose........................................................................................... 3.3 Scope ……………………………………………………………. 4 4 4 4. Water as an Important Natural Resource 5 5 The Main Biophysical Challenges Involved in Managing Water Resources 6-7 6 The Key Pieces Of Legislation, Government Agencies And Policies Governing Management of Water Resources at International, National, State and Local Levels 8-9 7. The Politics and Stakeholders Involved in Managing Water Resources……………………………………………………… 10-11 8. Conclusions……………………………………………………………... 12 9. Recommendations……………………………………………………….. 12-13 10. References………………………………………………………………. 14-15 ABSTRACT The following report commences with a background analysis into the existing water resources crisis in Australia providing statistics. The purpose of the report is to provide solutions to the crisis. The report then gives an analysis into the reasons behind water resources as a natural resource. It is argued that as the ultimate naturally occurring source of life, water is not just a natural resource but actually the most important natural resource. It follows this up with a description of the main biophysical challenges facing water resources in Australia and they are: the changing rainfall pattern; evaporation; increasing temperatures; systems-based water management; access to the existing water; sustainable water use; and creating and sustaining healthy water environments. The legislative aspect is then analyzed where several policies and agencies dealing with water legislation are outlined. This is then linked up to the political aspect of managing water resources by focusing on the role of stakeholders. The report summarily concludes with a way forward focusing on the policies that need to be implemented to secure the future of water resources. A list of the sources used for this report is then provided in the References section. INTRODUCTION Background Australia’s water resources have been on the decline. Overall, Australia is a comparatively dry country with a limited amount of water resources. Most of her water resources are in Tasmania and northern Australia (Meyer, 2003). A recent CSIRO research predicted that by 2030, most of Australia will constantly be in a state of drought 20 % more of the time. (Australia Conservation Foundation, 2004). This prediction points to a stark future for Australia. Purpose Following the decline of water resources, the authorities must find a way on how to best utilize and conserve water. A balance must be struck between its use for economic purposes and the sustainable use these crucial water resources. The main aim of this report is thus to analyze the existing framework on water resources and discover how to best improve it. Scope This report covers water resources within Australia as a whole mainly focusing on the resources found within Tasmania and northern Australia. The time frame spans the past 15 years up to the present time. Water as an Important Natural Resource By definition, a natural resource refers to a naturally occurring material such as air, soil, wood, oil, water or minerals which are of value to the environment, wildlife, plants and of course people (A Guide to Rural Residential Living. 2008). Water resources occur naturally in the form of rivers, lakes, seas, oceans, springs, waterfalls, and the like. If misused, the world’s water resources are in danger of reducing to levels that are unsustainable to humanity. Water is recognised by all as an extremely important natural resource. Indeed, water is the life source of all humanity. As such, it is the most important natural resource on earth since even other natural resources such as minerals, soil, and the like are produced and refined with the help of water. Without it, life as we knew it would become non- existent. It is thus crucial that the authorities and environmentalist within Australia placed water conservation on the top of their list of things to do. The Main Biophysical Challenges Involved in Managing Water Resources The changing rainfall pattern in Australia is proving to be one of the greatest biophysical challenges. This coupled with evaporation and increasing temperatures makes dams a less reliable option for securing water for national consumption. Since most cities in Australia rely on the small number of large dams for their water purposes, methods of maintaining these dams is needed urgently. If this is not possible, another source of water needs to be sought. (Australia Conservation Foundation, 2004). Another biophysical challenge concerns systems-based water management. The challenge lies in managing, repairing and protecting key ecosystems and natural assets. The main water systems that need to be dealt with are rivers, wetlands estuaries as well as riparian systems. In addition, the hydrology; the tidal flow; habitat; temperatures; and relative impacts of the quality and quantity of the various water systems have to be measured. This is a very complicated form of science and people need to be trained so as to enable the country to adequately harness the potential of Australia’s limited water resources (Creighton 2004, p. 38). Improving better access to the existing water sources is yet another biophysical challenge. According to Creighton (2004, p. 38), the challenge mainly lies in terms of finding out where exactly the water is in the catchment and how to better predict how these water accounts might change with changed land and water use and climate variability. This can prove quite challenging in the current state of uncertainty and irregularity brought about by global warming and climate change. With regards to smarter water use, the challenge is in developing water accounts. Creighton (2004, p. 38) sums up the problem thus: “We need water accounts, but with an intensity of scale and coverage that will facilitate economic decisions at suburb, farm and scheme levels to maximize water benefits. In both urban and rural settings we must ask what are the values we are currently gaining, and can we shift water to a higher value use. In other words, can smarter water use wring out more benefits from the same amount of water?” This, perhaps, is the greatest challenge for water conservation and harnessing and Australia and great effort needs to be put herein. . Finally, creating and sustaining healthy water environments has been another major biophysical challenge in Australia. This is mainly due to heightened urbanisation which results in greater pollution of wetland systems and waterways thereby reducing the amount of clean water (CSIRO, 2009). The Key Pieces Of Legislation, Government Agencies And Policies Governing Management of Water Resources at International, National, State and Local Levels Fortunately, Australia has sufficient legislation devoted towards the management of water resources on the national, State and local levels. There exist two main pieces of legislation in NSW for the management of water nationally, namely: the Water Management Act 2000 and the Water Act 1912 (New South Wales Government Department of Water and Energy, 2009). Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards Act 2006; as well as the Water Resources (Miscellaneous) Amendment Act 2003. An example of a local piece of legislation is the Waterworks (Save the River Murray Levy) Amendment Act 2003. Internationally, water legislation include: the Water (Commonwealth Powers) Act 2008 and the Directive of the European Parliament and the Council establishing a framework for Community Action in the Field of Water Policy There are major policies in Australia on the national level: the National Water Initiative (NWI); the National Plan for Water Security (2007) that was brought forward by the former premier Hon John Howard; the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Water Reform Agenda; The National Water Quality Management Strategy. Other policies include the State Plan (2006); the Metropolitan Water Plan; the Water Compliance Policy; the NSW Water Extraction Monitoring Policy; and the Draft Floodplain Harvesting Policy. The two main agencies on the national level for implementing these policies in Australia are: The Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (formerly the Department of the Environment and Water Resources) and Australian Government National Water Commission (whose main policy is the National Water Initiative). Globally, bodies and policies involved include UN- Water; The World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP); The World Health Organization (WHO)/ United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Joint Monitoring Programme on Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP); UN-Water Decade Programme on Capacity Development (UNW-DPC); The UN-Water Decade Programme on Advocacy and Communication (UNW-DPAC); and the U.N Water Assessment Body (UN- Water, 2008). Indeed, water conservation is such an important day that World Water Day is celebrated every year on March 22. All the above pieces of legislation and policies have their constraints particularly with regards to overall implementation and enforcement. This is due to the various highly influential stakeholders who often find ways of going around existing legislation to suit their needs. Moreover, the corporatisation and commercialisation of most of Australia’s urban water businesses coupled with the increased involvement of large international water companies in Australia has made regulating the water industry through enforcement of water resources legislation extremely difficult for the government. Nevertheless, it is the duty of the government at all levels to ensure that water is used correctly by enforcing strict penalties such as hefty fines and even jail times on individuals and organizations that fail to comply with water policies. This is the only way Australia can achieve water security both now and in years to come. The Politics and Stakeholders Involved in Managing Water Resources As is the case with all issues dealing with natural resources, politics finds its way into the management of water resources due to the many stakeholders who have a lot to lose when certain natural resource management measures are undertaken. The main stakeholders in Australia include the following: farmers, water industry groups, irrigation water providers, science and research bodies, and state and territory agencies. These stakeholders rely almost entirely on vast amounts of water to survive and thus require the government to supply this water in great quantities regularly. Due to these vested interests, conflicts often arise between the government and these stakeholders. For instance, irrigation water providers have often been accused of not meeting metering standards; of failing to incorrect data provision; and lack of transparency in water delivery charging regimes (Howard, 2007). An apt example of how politics and industry stakeholders are intertwined with the managing of water resources can be seen with the Murray Darling basin plan which was initiated in 2008. Irrigators protested over this $10 billion plan which was to purportedly release an extra 200 billion litres of water down the Murray after the irrigation upgrades in the Goulburn Valley (ABC News, 2008). ABC News reported it thus: “Sunraysia irrigator Christine Argiro, says irrigators need 100 per cent of their water allocations to get a crop. Environment groups say more water is needed for environmental flows. The Opposition Leader, Ted Baillieu, says the Murray-Darling agreement is much the same as the one put forward by John Howard a year ago. "The Commonwealth plan should've been signed 12 months ago. You have to wonder why John Brumby didn't sign it 12 months ago, and the only reason is politics and he was seeking some political advantage," he said.” The government was thus left to balance these two opposing ends. Ted Baillieu, the Opposition Leader accused Victorian Premier John Brumby of playing politics since he had a year before failed to sign the Commonwealth Plan so as to assuage the irrigation stakeholders for his own political advantage (ABC News, 2008). Stakeholders often try to gain influence by exchanging their votes, financial support and at times even bribes for favourable government policies. Evidently, politicians are faced with the dilemma of adhering to existing water legislation while at the same time trying not to anger the industry’s many stakeholders lest they lose their important votes in elections. CONCLUSIONS Evidently, the scarcity of water resources in Australia is a cause for major concern. To prevent the forecasted drought set to affect her, the government must invest billions of dollars in water management and conservation efforts as well as improving on existing water legislation. RECOMMENDATIONS For water resources to be adequately managed and conserved, the following are some proposals that will help the government achieve that end: Implementation of a Comprehensive National Urban Water Policy: To make sure that Australian cities are water resilient amidst the threat of climate change, this policy should encompass the following aspects: the introduction of water audits for the major industrial, agricultural and commercial water users; the restoration of the Murray by speeding up the return of 500 billion litres of average yearly environmental flows; and the rejection of various wasteful water infrastructure proposals like the Traveston Crossing Dam that pose a great danger to wetlands and endangered species that are protected under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (1999); (Australia Conservation Foundation, 2004). Implementation of climate change Risk Assessment: Climate change poses a risk to water resources and the magnitude of this risk needs to be continuously ascertained to secure water through various policies. The government should thus implement and make clarifications on the risk assignment provisions of the NWI (Australian Government National Water Commission. 2008). The Increased Use of Rainwater Tanks: Rainwater tanks efficiently collect every drop that falls within the catchment area unlike dams and they also minimise the loss of water from evaporation. Water recycling: Australia only recycles 4 per cent of the water used nationally. This should increase since water recycling projects reduce the demand and also reduce the volume of pollution that gets into the ocean. Return water to rivers: To ensure water security in Adelaide, the Murray River must be conserved. The Government’s National Plan for Water Security is thus important in dealing with the water over- allocation problem there and hence, the government has to provide environmental flows; deal with the issue of over- extraction; and buy water. Others: In addition, the government should: improve the linkages between land use planning processes and water planning; resolve the lingering issues as pertaining to the use of water titles as a form of security during borrowing and lending; support the environmental water management; deal with the niggling problem of shortages of skilled labour in the water sector by training and capacity building (Australian Government National Water Commission, 2008). REFERENCES A Guide to Rural Residential Living. 2008. Natural Resources. Glossary. Accessed on 10th April, 2009 from http://www.ruralresidentialliving.com.au/introduction/glossary.html ABC News. 2008. Irrigators angry over Murray Darling basin plan. Accessed on 11th April, 2009 from http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/27/2201069.htm Australia Conservation Foundation. 2004. Solutions to Australia’s urban water challenges. Accessed on 11th April, 2009 from http://www.acfonline.org.au/articles/news.asp?news_id=1480 Australian Government National Water Commission. 2008. National Water Commission Stakeholder Reference Group: Peak industry groups call for reinvigoration of national water reforms. Accessed on 12th April, 2009 from http://www.nwc.gov.au/www/html/916-nwc-stakeholder-reference-group-communiqu-2008.asp Creighton, Colin. 2004. Water Policy in Australia- Health Country Science. Accessed on 10th April, 2009 from http://www.csiro.au/files/files/p3xd.pdf CSIRO. 2009. Urban water: addressing Australia’s urban water challenges. Accessed on 11th April, 2009 from http://www.csiro.au/science/Urban-Water.html Howard, John. 2007. A National Plan for Water Security. Accessed on 11th April, 2009 from http://www.nalwt.gov.au/files/national_plan_for_water_security.pdf. Meyer, Wayne. 2003. Water Use in Australia. Land & Water Unit, Australian Museum. Accessed on 10th April, 2009 from http://www.austmus.gov.au/factSheets/water_use.htm New South Wales Government Department of Water and Energy. 2009. Water Management. Accessed on 10th April, 2009 from http://www.dwe.nsw.gov.au./water/leg_policy.shtml UN- Water. 2008. Discover UN- Water. Accessed on 10th April, 2009 from http://www.unwater.org/discover.html Read More