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Indigenous Participation in Water Planning and Access to Water

Sue Jackson (CSIRO) from the Water Planning Tools project delivered a presentation to the National Indigenous Water Planning Forum on the 19th February, based on her recent 

on Indigenous participation in water planning.

The presentation addressed the limited consideration of Indigenous water requirements in planning processes, despite the existence of specific requirements under the National Water Initiative. These requirements are for water plans include to Indigenous representation in the planning proceses, to incorporate Indigenous social, spiritual and customary objectives, and to allocate water to native title holders.

Sue argued that although there is now a policy framework in place to engage with Indigenous people and improve Indigenous access to water, the mechanisms and processes to guarantee outcomes of a high standard and positive effect are poorly developed.

There is a lack of consistent definitions, standards, targets, effective allocation mechanisms, skills and know-how, agency leadership, community networks, and rigorous performance evaluation and monitoring. There is also an inadequate information-base upon which to evaluate NWI implementation, including an absence of empirical evidence of the impact of various water reforms and water planning practices on rates of Indigenous participation in either economic or environmental water-based activity.

Her presentation delivered ten central observations about Indigenous participation and access:

1. Indigenous knowledge is currently under-utilised in water resource assessments and planning.
2. Planning processes tend to rely on Indigenous representatives on advisory committees as the only form of Indigenous engagement and input to assessments and allocation decisions.
3. In many jurisdictions water plans implicitly assume that environmental flows will meet Indigenous social, cultural or spiritual requirements. In these cases these ‘nonconsumptive’uses, or instream values, are protected by limits on water extraction, rather than by an entitlement. Traditional owner groups are challenging the exclusive focus given to ecological criteria in determining these flows.
4. A number of native title determinations have recognised limited, non-exclusive rights to land and waters within claim boundaries. These decisions protect the native title holders’ rights to take water for drinking and domestic purposes and to exercise rights to fish, hunt and pursue cultural activities without a licence. In these cases, jurisdictions have processes for consulting with native title holders over water licence applications.
5. The NWI requires that water plans take account of the possibility of native title. Jurisdictions appear to be waiting for native title claims to be proven in the courts or resolved by negotiation before addressing the likely water requirements.
6. There are a few instances where attempts have been made to quantify a volume of water to meet potential native title requirements. The basis for determining the allocation differs markedly in each instance, highlighting the need for further consideration of transparent, robust and equitable mechanisms for specifying water requirements and making allocations.
7. Only Queensland and NSW legislation provides for an Indigenous share in an allocation process, for either cultural, social or economic purposes. The current mechanisms for specific purpose water licences (NSW) and Indigenous reservations (Queensland) do not appear to be popular with Indigenous groups, although in the latter case, the reservations have only recently been introduced or proposed.
8. It is difficult to obtain a reliable account of Indigenous-specific water allocations, their volumes and conditions of use. Despite the requirement of the NWI to account for any water allocated to native title holders, the current accounting framework does not identify such allocations or users.
9. NWI reporting needs to be improved, it is currently too general for thorough and independent evaluation of implementation. No jurisdiction has yet developed performance indicators to evaluate implementation of the Indigenous access outcomes.
10. Some jurisdictions are showing interest in adapting water resource management legislation and policy to provide for water from the consumptive pool for the economic benefit of Indigenous people.

Reference

Jackson, S. 2009. Background paper on Indigenous participation in water planning and access to water. Paper prepared for the National Water Commission. CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Winnelle.