Northern Australia Water Futures Assessment

The Northern Australia Water Futures Assessment (NAWFA) is a program run by the Australian Government Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities and the National Water Commission, in close collaboration with the Office of Northern Australia and state and territory government agencies. The NAWFA aims to inform the development and protection of northern Australia’s water resources, so that development is ecologically, culturally and economically sustainable.

The assessment is comprised of four components:

• Water Resources program
• Ecological program
• Cultural and Social program
• Knowledge Base program

Several TRaCK researchers are working on NAWFA projects under the Cultural and Social and Ecological programs.

Northern Australia Water Futures Assessment (NAWFA) Cultural and Social Program aims to improve the understanding of the social and cultural values associated with water in northern Australia.  

What are social and cultural values?

Landscapes and freshwater sources such as lagoons, billabongs, creeks, rivers and other wetlands are valued for many different reasons including for their ability to produce food or other commodities. Their total value extends beyond the mere economic dimensions to include benefits individuals and society derives from water-based recreational activity and from the amenity and heritage value of the environment.

An improved understanding of community views, values and priorities is now recognised as an important objective of contemporary natural resource policy development in Australia.

Changes to water policy, such as the introduction of water markets and water resource development strategies, must negotiate the multiple layers of value and meaning attributed to water, rivers, wetlands and floodplains, as well as comprehensively address the range of consequences (social, economic and environmental).

The objective of the NAWFA Cultural and Social program is to increase our understanding of the socio-cultural values, beliefs and practices associated with water in northern Australia and how they may be affected by changes in water availability.

TRaCK researchers from CSIRO, CDU, JCU and GU are contributing to the objectives of this program through a set of research activities focused on social and economic values in water planning and location-specific case studies of the values of particular water use sectors, including Indigenous communities, commercial interests, recreational fishers and conservation groups.

The Cultural and Social program is comprised of three research sub-projects that will be run in parallel until March 2012. They are:
•         Sub-project 1 - Social and cultural values in the planning cycle (CSIRO and CDU)
•         Sub-project 2 - Relative values of water for trade-offs (JCU)
•         Sub-project 3 - Developing management models for Indigenous water strategies (GU)

Across the three projects researchers will undertake a number of case studies to understand socio-cultural values, beliefs and practices held by various water using groups, including patterns of usage, ecological knowledge, religious significance, economic activities, and governance issues. Attention will be given to tools and mechanisms to articulate and capture Indigenous social and economic aspirations with respect to water.