Social Impacts of the Drought R2

Water Resources Research, 2013

can be described as the worst drought on record for southeast Australia. Adaptation to future severe droughts requires insight into the drivers of the drought and its impacts. These were analyzed using climate, water, economic, and remote sensing data combined with biophysical modeling. Prevailing El Niño conditions explained about two thirds of rainfall deficit in east Australia. Results for south Australia were inconclusive; a contribution from global climate change remains plausible but unproven. Natural processes changed the timing and magnitude of soil moisture, streamflow, and groundwater deficits by up to several years, and caused the amplification of rainfall declines in streamflow to be greater than in normal dry years. By design, river management avoided impacts on some categories of water users, but did so by exacerbating the impacts on annual irrigation agriculture and, in particular, river ecosystems. Relative rainfall reductions were amplified 1.5-1.7 times in dryland wheat yields, but the impact was offset by steady increases in cropping area and crop water use efficiency (perhaps partly due to CO 2 fertilization). Impacts beyond the agricultural sector occurred (e.g., forestry, tourism, utilities) but were often diffuse and not well quantified. Key causative pathways from physical drought to the degradation of ecological, economic, and social health remain poorly understood and quantified. Combined with the multiple dimensions of multiyear droughts and the specter of climate change, this means future droughts may well break records in ever new ways and not necessarily be managed better than past ones.

2010

The National Climate Change Research Facility (NCCARF) is undertaking a program of Synthesis and Integrative Research to synthesise existing and emerging national and international research on climate change impacts and adaptation. The purpose of this program is to provide decision-makers with the information they need to manage the risks of climate change. This report on drought and the future of rural communities in regional Victoria forms part of a series of studies/reports commissioned by NCCARF that look at historical extreme weather events, their impacts and subsequent adaptations. These studies examine particular events primarily extremes and seek to explore prior vulnerabilities and resilience, the character and management of the event, subsequent adaptation and the effects on present-day vulnerability. The reports should inform thinking about adapting to climate change that is, capacity to adapt, barriers to adaptation, and translating capacity into action. While it is reco...

Rainfall - Extremes, Distribution and Properties, 2019

Population and Environment Journal, 2012

Uncertainty around long-term droughts and water scarcity has been increasing as the impacts of El Nino cycles are felt globally. Understanding how the effects of these events are manifested on the ground in communities is particularly important if governments and associated agencies are to respond appropriately. Using a qualitative approach, this paper examines the impacts of drought on two rural towns in Victoria, Australia, and explores what lessons can be drawn from local experiences. The research suggests that previous responses to drought by governments have been largely ineffectual and as such, we question whether there is a need to reshape institutional understandings of what adapting to drought might mean. This research, therefore, seeks to further the discussion surrounding drought impacts and the myriad of challenges associated with it by drawing on locally situated knowledge to inform future decision-making in this evolving field of study.

2008

This article evaluates irrigated agriculture sector response and resultant economic impacts of climate change for a part of the Murray Darling Basin in Australia. A water balance model is used to predict reduced basin inflows for mild, moderate and severe climate change scenarios involving 10, 20, 40 Celcius warming, and predict 13%, 38% and 63% reduced inflows. Impact on irrigated

2014

The \u27Big Dry\u27, a prolonged dry period in Australia from 1997 to 2009, seared much of the Murray-Darling Basin region and resulted in large agricultural losses, degraded river systems and increased uncertainty in rural communities although climate change in the form of drought is not new to rural Australia (Wei et al . 2012). For many years, generations of Australian farmers and farming communities have battled such climatic extremes. However, the most recent drought event competed with a myriad of changes to their lives and as such, the façade of stoicism has slowly begun to crack. This chapter examines the changes exacerbated by drought occurring in rural Victoria and considers the challenges facing both rural towns and farming families, whose economic future and social well-being are predominantly associated with agriculture. By drawing on locally situated knowledge from case studies of the rural towns of Mildura and Donald, this chapter shows how issues such as reduced wate...

Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research, 2014

Hydrobiologia, 2005

Wetlands in arid and semi-arid areas face intensifying pressure for their water resources yet harbour unique biota and ecological processes that rely on the ''boom and bust'' regime of alternating flood and drought. Recent research in Australia has revealed that models of ecosystem processes derived from northern temperate zone wetlands are often inapplicable to arid zone wetlands, confounding efforts to manage or protect these threatened habitats. We review four case studies from inland Australia that demonstrate different degrees of successful management, aiming to draw out lessons learned that will improve our sustainable use of these delicate systems. Inappropriate extrapolation across scales that ignores the inherent spatial and temporal variability of arid-zone wetlands, ''reactive'' rather than ''collaborative'' research and management, and a reluctance to adopt functional indicators to complement state variables are several common themes. We are optimistic that managers and researchers are collaborating to tackle these issues but warn that a parched future faces some wetlands where jurisdictional boundaries hamper their effective management or entrenched beliefs and community distrust of managers threaten ecologically sustainable resource use. In arid areas where water is so precious, environmental allocations are costly and their longterm effects are difficult to identify against a backdrop of high inherent variability. Preservation of this variability is the key to successful management of these ''boom and bust'' systems but diametrically opposes the desire for regulated, reliable water supplies for human use. Social and institutional acceptance and change now appear to be greater barriers than limited ecological understanding to effective management of many ''parched wetlands'' in Australia. Prologue Professor Bill Williams was very interested in the ecology of wetlands of the arid zone, especially salt lakes, and was one of the earliest researchers to recognise the limnological significance of this area in Australia and the paucity of work done in these areas worldwide-a theme to which he often referred (Williams, 1988; Comı´n & Williams, 1994). Although his interest in management and protection of these areas focussed on salt lakes, he was equally aware of the fragility of arid-zone aquatic ecosystems and the need for their wise management. This awareness culminated in the national conference and subsequent proceedings of ''Wetlands in a Dry Land: Understanding for Management'' that Professor Williams edited (Williams, 1998). The title of our paper is a play on words of the title of one of his reviews-''Parched continents: Our common future'' (Comı´n & Williams, 1994)-and aims to show that the issues raised in that review are just as relevant a decade later.

Australasian Journal of Environmental Management, 2017

Coastal wetlands are among the more valuable ecosystems on the planet. Managing wetlands to maintain ecosystem function is physically and politically challenging, especially during drought. Management of the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth has been characterised by a sequence of active and reactive infrastructure interventions, first as active interventions to supply consumptive water demands and more recently as reactive emergency drought responses. However, infrastructure solutions are not necessarily synonymous with achieving sustainability. Infrastructure interventions have occurred at significant public expenditure and high opportunity cost. Greater attention to demand-based management strategies including time-limited environmental water acquisitions and state-based environmental water holdings provides an alternative to future infrastructure reliance. There is also considerable scope for greater provision of cultural flows and engagement with traditional owners to improve ecological condition.

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… Alliance and CSIRO, …, 2005

Australian journal of adult learning, 2009

In this article, the authors set the scene for this research volume. They sought to emphasize and broaden their interest and concern about their "Learning to be drier" theme in this edition to the 77 per cent of Australians who live within 50 km of the Australian coast, the majority of ...

River Research and Applications, 2019

The condition of floodplain wetlands of the Murray Darling Basin (MDB) reflects the combined effects of climate variability, river regulation, vegetation clearance and the impacts of human settlement and industry. Today these systems are degraded, in large part due to changes in the hydroecology of waterways arising from water diversion and abstraction to sustain irrigated agriculture. The MDB Plan directs substantial investment towards the restoration of ecosystems largely via the buyback of water allocations, under a cap-and-trade system, for use as environmental flows. This region is projected to receive less winter rainfall and runoff which could exacerbate the impact of water diversions. Long term climate records suggest a higher level of resilience to drying than may be inferred from modern studies. Further, palaeoecological records of change reveal that many wetlands that are perennial today were once naturally seasonal or intermittent, and that much wetland degradation predates regulation and can be attributed to declines in water quality, rather than quantity. A mix of approaches to rehabilitate this long-degraded system, planned and implemented over an extended period, may meet the demands of the Water Act of 2007, but also support the regional economy. An adaptive management approach offers a framework within which to map system vulnerabilities, characterise climate pressures, identify adaptation options, and monitor outcomes, along a pathway to a sustainable future. Early lessons show the extent to which such a deliberative framework can assist water reform under changing socio-economic priorities and external hydroclimatic pressures.