Freshwater protected areas: linking science to policy and implementation
Eren Turak, Jon Nevill, Jamie Pittock, Simon Linke, Stuart Blanch and Angela Arthington
December 20, 2008
Abstract
Freshwater conservation in Australia requires urgent attention. The Freshwater Protected Areas Symposium at the Australian Protected Areas Congress (Coolum, Sunshine Coast, November 24-28, 2008) addressed various aspects of this issue by the way of 16 presentations on policy, science and management followed by a discussion session aimed at reconciling different perspectives.
There is a need to establish freshwater protected areas to improve and enhance the comprehensiveness, adequacy and representativeness of our National Reserve System, to meet Australia’s international obligations and to effectively utilize existing relevant legislation. A freshwater protected area network should complement natural resource management programs across Australia, incorporating all ecosystem types in the land to sea continuum as well as the full spectrum of inland systems. Science has a critical role to play in identifying where protected areas should be placed in the landscape and how they should be managed. A systematic approach based on scientific understanding of ecological processes and connectivity at the landscape scale will deliver optimal ecological/conservation outcomes in context of the potential affects of climate change on freshwater ecosystems and the role of water management decisions. Placing conservation efforts in the wrong place will waste valuable resources and may fail to protect the areas that are most critical for ensuring the long term persistence of Australia’s freshwater biodiversity.
Overview
The need for freshwater protected areas has been widely acknowledged in Australia and across the world for over three decades but at present they are not a common feature of protected area networks nor given sufficient prominence in water planning. Likely reasons for this include the need to implement management actions at locations distant from the features that need protection, the scarcity of intact catchments not already within protected areas, and the scarcity of reliable information on the likely biodiversity and other benefits of such reserves beyond what we know can be achieved with terrestrial reserves or off-reserve protection. It would seem, therefore, that there are three key requirements for moving forward on freshwater protected areas: sufficient scientific input to identify/quantify how freshwater protected areas will help to ensure the persistence of biodiversity; an adequate framework of enabling legislation and policy to guide the establishment of freshwater protected areas; and mechanisms that enable implementation of management actions at multiple spatial scales both within and outside protected areas, including the protection of catchments and delivery of environmental flows, so that freshwater protected areas are effective in ensuring the persistence of biodiversity and future evolutionary potential. The Freshwater Protected Areas Symposium at the Australian Protected Areas Congress 08 included presentations addressing these areas in three separate sessions and a final discussion session that aimed to reconcile the different perspectives presented.
Freshwater protected areas in Australia: global and national perspectives
Australia’s international obligations under the Ramsar convention and the Convention on Biological Diversity were highlighted for concrete action, better use of existing tools and implementation of actions under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (Pittock 2008). Neville (2008) emphasized the need to translate existing policy and legislation into concrete, on the ground action. However, such action must take into consideration connectivities at a whole-landscape scale and freshwater protected areas should be placed into the land to sea continuum with clear focus on management agendas of Natural Resource Management programs in Australia (Pressey and Januchowski 2008). One important consideration should be protecting the ecological values represented by free-flowing rivers (Blanch 2008). Ultimately these steps should be reflected in a National Reserve system that is comprehensive, adequate and representative for freshwaters (Bond, T 2008).
The role of science
The existing protected area networks in Australia fail to represent many types of freshwater ecosystems and inadequately protects others against threat (Stein 2008). Improving this network can best be achieved by adopting a systematic approach that uses scientific knowledge and ecological principles to identify gaps and spatial priorities for management action (Linke 2008) however planning for this requires some ability to quantify the potential benefits of the different types of conservation actions (Turak et al. 2008) and greater focus on restoration (Bond ,N 2008). It is particularly important to fully understand how water management decisions and river flow regulation may impact on freshwater biodiversity (Arthington 2008). Also, it is critical to utilize best scientific knowledge and predictive models of the likely impacts of climate change on freshwater ecosystems (Sheldon 2008).
Implementation of conservation plans and management of freshwater protected areas
There have has been some important progress in freshwater conservation recently.
For example, commonwealth Department of the Environment, Water Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA) has made substantial progress towards establishing a national framework for the identification, classification and management of Australia's high conservation value aquatic ecosystems or (HCVAEs) (Abrahams 2008). This framework will facilitate the fulfilment of the requirement of the National Water Initiative, developed by the Council of Australian Governments, that: parties "identify and acknowledge surface and groundwater systems of high conservation value, and manage these systems to protect and enhance those values".
There have also been positive developments in several States. The recent declaration of six “wild rivers” under Queensland's Wild Rivers Act 2007, identifies rivers that are of high conservation value and provides a framework for sustainable catchment management practices with some degree of enforcement (Buchanan 2008). Recent experiences in Victoria have shown how a systematic public land use planning can achieve potentially significant improvements in the reservation of under-reserved wetlands, in their relative levels of protection and in reserve design (Fitzsimons and Robertson 2008) and how flood-dependent natural values can be identified (on the Victorian floodplains of the River Murray and its tributaries), in order to assist in the decision-making for environmental water allocation, both in protected areas and on other public land (Peake et al.2008).
Recent experiences have also shown that there are major impediments preventing the conservation of freshwater ecosystems that cannot be removed simply by establishing protected areas. For example, if the flow regime cannot be protected then the freshwater asset must inevitably decline as has happened in the Macquarie Marshes (Love and Johnson 2008). This experience has shown that conservation of freshwater ecosystems, whether they are listed as protected areas or not, can only occur with managers, scientists, policy-makers and stakeholders working as a team toward the same outcome (Love and Johnson 2008).
Where to from here?
Presentations at the freshwater symposium captured several key developments in science and policy related to identification and management of freshwater protected areas. Many ideas set out in this symposium were not new. Participants expressed concern that in the past good legislation, good policy, solid scientific understanding of freshwater biodiversity patterns and processes, and possible management solutions had not translated into effective on ground action. There is clearly, widespread recognition of the need to take concrete steps towards extending and enhancing the freshwater protected area network in Australia. There is substantial scientific understanding of key ecological processes and appreciation of the important social and economic factors. There are many tools and mechanisms to assist in identifying appropriate locations for freshwater protected areas and for guiding their management.
In spite of all this, progress on the systematic extension of freshwater protected areas in Australia has been frustratingly slow. The way forward might be to determine one or more key areas to concentrate efforts in the near future. One such key area is the process of the developing the framework for the identification of High Conservation Value Aquatic Ecosystems (HCVAE) in Australia undertaken by DEWHA. This framework represents progress in line with one of the key recommendations of the Freshwater Protected Areas Conference held in Sydney in 2004. However, it is important that this framework incorporates systematic approaches to the prioritisation of locations for protection and restoration (Linke 2008). It is also important that this framework is adapted to support and enhance the development of a National Reserve System that is comprehensive adequate and representative with respect to all types of freshwater ecosystem in Australia.
We urgently need a national study which reports on the conservation status of every major type of Australian inland aquatic ecosystem (including lentic, lotic, estuarine and subterranean ecosystems). Protected areas must also be seen as one of two major general protective strategies - the second being planning mechanisms, both within municipal and NRM/catchment structures, aimed at protecting the values of the bulk of freshwater ecosystems which will always lie in the wider landscape outside protected area networks (Nevill 2008).
The final discussion session also made two important (and related) points: there is a pressing need for freshwater scientists to communicate widely with both the general public and government decision-makers, and there is a need for governments at all levels to fund community groups wishing to prepare detailed contributions to important government strategies and plans.
Symposium presentations
Webpage: see document number 45 at
Abrahams H. 2008 A framework for identifying high conservation value aquatic ecosystems
Arthington A 2008. Natural and altered flow regimes: importance for biodiversity protection.
Blanch S. 2008 Protecting free-flowing rivers - the jewels in the crown of Australia’s aquatic ecosystems.
Bond, T. 2008 Incorporating protected areas for non-marine aquatic ecosystems in the National Reserve System.
Bond, N. 2008 Conservation of aquatic ecosystems: protected areas and the bits in between.
Buchanan, S. 2008 The Wild Rivers Act: an integrated approach to the preservation of Queensland's wild rivers.
Fitzsimons, J. and Robertson, H 2008 Reservation of important wetlands - recent experiences in conservation planning and practical implementation in Victoria.
Linke, S. 2008 Systematic conservation planning in freshwater systems: Comprehensiveness, Adequacy, Representativeness and Efficiency.
Love, D. and Johnson, W. 2008 Managing Complex Systems: lessons from the Macquarie Marshes.
Nevill, J. 2008 Policy without action: protecting freshwater ecosystems within the Australian landscape.
Paul Peake, James Fitzsimons, Mel Mitchell, Naomi Withers and Joan Phillips 2008 Taking environmental water requirements and climate change into account in the designation and management of protected areas for floodplain ecosystems
Pittock, J. 2008Freshwater biodiversity conservation through protected areas:
international obligations and lessons for Australia.
Pressey, R.L and Januchowski S. 2008 Planning from the mountains to the sea: where do freshwater protected areas fit?
Sheldon, F. Climate variability and freshwater systems: lessons for protecting freshwater systems from climate change impacts.
Stein, J. The adequacy of the existing reserve system for the protection of freshwater ecosystems.
Turak, E., Ferrier,S., Barrett, T., Drielsma, M., Manion G., Mesley, E. Stein, J., Doyle, G. and Gordon, G. (2008) Quantifying the benefits of different types of protection for freshwater biodiversity.