News Latest News The Second National Water Planners Forum
The Second National Water Planners Forum
The 2nd National Water Planners Forum was held on the 24th and 25th February on the Gold Coast in Queensland, with more than 40 jurisdictional water planners from around the country coming together for a networking and learning exchange. The forum continues the building of a professional water planning network in Australia, with a focus on sharing knowledge and experience around issues common across the country. The Forum is a joint initiative of the National Water Commission and Land and Water Australia as part of the Water Planning Processes: Lessons, Gaps and Adoption project.
The first forum was held in June last year in Melbourne, and focused on water planning tool development and the trialling of key water planning tools. In consultation with all of the water planning jurisdictions, the second forum was convened to build capacity and awareness in two priority areas: climate change and variability, and social-economic assessment. In addition, the forum was intended to also re-establish and strengthen the existing professional networks between water planners and to identify priorities for further research, training & communication. Presentations included:
- Climate Change and the Implications for Water Planning - John Williams, Natural Resources Commission NSW
- Developing Risk Assessments - Mark Hampstead, Hampstead and Associates
- Socio-Economic Assessments - Claudia Baldwin, University of Sunshine Coast and Water Planning Tools
- Social and Economic Implications of Water Planning - Geoff Syme, Edith Cowan University
The Water Planning Tools project was also provided with an opportunity to provide an update on the water planners survey, stakeholder analysis in the Condamine plan and to propose an upcoming experts roundtable on methodology for impact assessment.
A central part of the forum consisted of an innovative role-play scenario: "Mythic River", designed and developed by Mark Hampstead and Claudia Baldwin. The scenario was designed to provide a realistic context for working through how the implications of climate change and uncertainty might be addressed in water planning. Working in small groups over the course of the two days, attendees considered a range of planning options, communication strategies, and risk management actions, and ultimately were able to reach decisions on management options for the scenario.
A summary of the outcomes from the forum has been developed by Siwan Lovett from Lovett-Clark Consulting and Phil Price from Mackellar Consulting Group, and is available from this website.
