Water allocation in Queensland's is carried out through a statutory water resource planning process administered under the Water Act 2000. A Water Resource Plan provides the framework for this water ...allocation that is sustainable and secure for consumptive and non-consumptive uses as well as providing water necessary to sustain the inland and estuarine aquatic environment, including both surface water and groundwater dependent ecosystems. This paper describes Queensland's current approach to assessing environmental water allocations that is based on risk assessment, ecological modelling and the evaluation of different water resource management scenarios. The current approach is a refinement of the previous method that was based on a similar type of risk assessment termed the "Benchmarking Methodology" and is part of an on-going Adaptive Management Strategy which implements on-going improvements in monitoring, evaluation and adjustment of environmental water management based on at least 10-year reviews of Water Resource Plans. For the risk assessment, environmental values and their associated ecological assets to be protected are identified and prioritised. The prioritisation of the assets is based on their critical links to fl ow and how these links may be affected by different water allocation and management scenarios. Examples from the different Water Plan areas are provided to illustrate the results.
Water allocation in Queensland's is carried out through a statutory water resource planning process administered under the Water Act 2000. A Water Resource Plan provides the framework for this water ...allocation that is sustainable and secure for consumptive and non-consumptive uses as well as providing water necessary to sustain the inland and estuarine aquatic environment, including both surface water and groundwater dependent ecosystems. This paper describes Queensland's current approach to assessing environmental water allocations that is based on risk assessment, ecological modelling and the evaluation of different water resource management scenarios. The current approach is a refinement of the previous method that was based on a similar type of risk assessment termed the "Benchmarking Methodology" and is part of an on-going Adaptive Management Strategy which implements on-going improvements in monitoring, evaluation and adjustment of environmental water management based on at least 10-year reviews of Water Resource Plans. For the risk assessment, environmental values and their associated ecological assets to be protected are identified and prioritised. The prioritisation of the assets is based on their critical links to fl ow and how these links may be affected by different water allocation and management scenarios. Examples from the different Water Plan areas are provided to illustrate the results.
Representation of all ecosystems and species in protected areas is a major goal of nature conservation, but few countries have assessed the degree to which it has been fulfilled. We analyzed the ...extent to which landscape and habitat types in Sweden are represented in areas protected by the Nature Conservation Act. A total of 1175 national parks, nature reserves, and nature conservation areas comprised 4.7% of the total Swedish territory on 31 December 1986 (the proportion increased to 5.9% in 1990). Among landscape types, a very large area of alpine landscape was protected, but only a small area of river landscape. Among habitat types, subalpine birch forest and alpine heaths showed the highest degree of representation in protected areas (32% and 30%, respectively, of the total area of each habitat type). Less than 1% of the farmland and less than 2% of the coniferous forests were represented in protected areas. During an early (1909-66) and a late (1967-86) conservation period, 30% and 70%, respectively, of the protected area was established. During the early period protection of alpine areas predominated; during the late period higher proportions of the other habitat types were protected, suggesting that representation was considered increasingly important. We discuss three factors that influence the goal of representation: (1) threat to and amount of remaining habitat type, (2) cost and opportunity, and (3) evaluation criteria and history. Further inventory of communities and species as well as understanding of ecological processes, in and outside of protected areas, are necessary in future conservation work.
Riparian vegetation can be an effective measure for preventing degradation of streambanks and riparian areas. However, riparian revegetation imposes large costs on landholders associated with tree ...establishment and removal of land from cropping, while providing benefits to downstream landholders, fishers, the local community and environmentalists. Appropriate policy instruments are required to promote sustainable and balanced use of riparian zones. This article analyses the capacity of existing legislation and other instruments to promote restoration of degraded riparian zones on private land. The role of legislation, economic instruments, community engagement and extension programs, in persuading landholders to revegetate riparian areas and improve riparian vegetation cover, is examined in the context of a small degraded catchment in an intensive farming area in tropical north Queensland. It is found that while legislation and regulations can control undesirable modification of riparian areas, in general they are unable to make a useful contribution to restoration of these areas; incentives and assistance measures appear to offer greater potential.
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