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Risk Assessments for Tropical Rivers
Australia's tropical river systems are unique and form one of the last great river networks in less-impacted condition in the world today. Together, they constitute an internationally significant asset. However, increasing pressure on water supply and river systems in southern Australia is driving strong interest in the potential for greater use for agriculture of the perceived abundant water resources in northern Australia. The existence of substantial mineral and energy resources in this region will further add to development pressures over the next 10-20 years.
Summary:
To achieve sustainable development and growth in northern Australia, utilisation of the water resources of our tropical rivers will need to be balanced with providing appropriate protection of the riverine and wetland ecosystems, and the many benefits they provide to society. For this vision of sustainable development to be effectively realised, a better understanding of the aquatic ecosystems is required.
However, these ecosystems have yet to be studied in a systematic manner. Across the Australian tropics it is generally only those catchments with existing mining, urban, or intensive agricultural development that have specific information available on ecology, biology, geomorphology, hydrology and management requirements. Consequently, the available information is fragmented and insufficient for addressing the management needs of the future. Although the existing biophysical information base for the Northern Tropical Rivers is known to be limited (relative to the size of the region), agricultural and mining development is already occurring and future opportunities are being actively and strategically explored on a northern Australian scale.
Consequently, there is a need to assess the risks to aquatic ecosystems now, based on the best available information, rather than waiting until additional biophysical, socio-cultural and economic data have been collected. Moreover, it is an appropriate time to be exploring methods and tools for assessing risk of current development and future development scenarios, including dealing with the uncertainties associated with limited data and knowledge.
This study, Ecological risk assessments for Australia's Northern Tropical Rivers, builds on recent efforts to develop ecological risk assessment approaches for Australia, and applies some of these at various spatial scales across the Northern Tropical Rivers study area, thus providing some initial risk estimates for key pressures and threats to specific ecological assets.
Citation
Ecological risk assessments for Australia's Northern Tropical Rivers Sub project 2 of Australia's Tropical Rivers - an integrated data assessment and analysis Authors: R Bartolo, P Bayliss and R van Dam Environmental Research Institute of the Supervising Scientist, 2008
More information on the Tropical Rivers Inventory and Assessment Project (TRIAP)
