5.9: Northern Australia Aquatic Ecological Assets

Leader:

Mark Kennard

Abstract

<p>The <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/water/policy-programs/northern-australia/index.html" target="Northern Australia Water Furtures Assessment">Northern Australia Water Futures Assessment</a> (NAWFA) is an Australian Government initiative to provide the science needed for sustainable development and protection of Northern Australia’s water resources. One project being undertaken as part of the NAWFA Ecological Program is the TRaCK Northern Australia Ecological Assets Project.</p>

Outcomes

The project will: (i) determine the impact of development alternatives on the status of the northern Australian aquatic ecosystems and aquatic biodiversity, (ii) map aquatic ecosystems (assets), (iii) evaluate the Drainage Division scale of these assets against the draft criteria developed by the Commonwealth, States and Territories for identifying High Conservation Value Aquatic Ecosystems, and (iv) identify knowledge gaps and priorities for regional aquatic ecosystem assets and scope further work under the NAWFA Ecological Program.

The lessons from this trial, along with feedback and stakeholder consultation, will contribute to the development of the national High Conservation Value Aquatic Ecosystems (HCVAE) framework. In trialling the draft HCVAE criteria the project will identify key aquatic ecological assets in northern Australia, make recommendations for the improvement of the HCVAE criteria, identify knowledge gaps and priorities in terms of ecological thresholds in relation to flow regimes and maintenance of aquatic ecosystem assets, key ecological values of assets, connectivity between assets, ecosystem services, and vulnerability/resilience to risks/threats from hydrological disturbance, climate change, water resource development or other factors.

Where is the research happening?

Researchers will use existing information available from all catchments from the Kimberley to the Cape York Peninsula.

Who's involved?

The project is led by Dr Mark Kennard who is working with a team of other researchers from Griffith University, Charles Darwin University, the Australian National University, ERISS and CSIRO.