AUSTRALIAN MISSION TO THE UNITED NATIONS
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UNITED NATIONS
Thursday, 29 April 2004
CSD: Panel Presentation on Water
Statement by
The Hon . Dr David Kemp
Minister for Environment and Heritage
(Check against delivery)
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Minister Brende, fellow Ministers ;
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In the spirit of this review year for CSD, let me share some of
Australia's experience in managing freshwater resources .
Australian context
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My country has some features of water resources that are similar to
many developing countries.
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Australia is the driest continent . Droughts and variable rainfall are
natural features of our landscape .
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Around 75% of Australia's managed water is used in irrigated
agriculture - quite comparable with many developing countries .
? Irrigation has given Australia enormous economic and social gains .
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For example, output from the irrigation heartland of Australia - the
Murray-Darling River Basin - is around US$7 .5 billion a year. This
is nearly one third of the value of Australia's total annual agriculture
output.
? However, we now know thatt there have been downside environmenta
l
impacts.
,
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Altered flow patterns in thc:°,rivers, together with associated land use
change, resulted in increased 1;
lin, ty of our rivers and our land. toxic
algal blooms, and reduced biodiversity .
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These problems arose because the science of farming our land was not
well established or understood. Water was regarded as a free
environmental good with no distinct value .
Policy response - the National Water Initiative
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Mr Chairman:
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Our response has been to place value on ecological ecosystems - and
water in particular - and to establish governance arrangements to
achieve integrated natural resource management.
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Setting the regulatory framework that encourages the market to place
a value on water drives increased private investment in water
efficiency and technological change . This leads to increased
agricultural productivity while using less water - we get "more crop
for the drop" .
? In Australia we will continue to increase our agricultural economic
performance . We will achieve this through well managed irrigation .
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With greater water use efficiency driven by the market and integrated
water resource management, we will also improve our ecological
outcomes by making more water available to the environment .
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In Australia we now treat water resource management - and other
natural resource management - as a horizontal issue . In Australia we
call it a whole of government issue - and our reforms have been
driven by the Prime Minister .
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In August 2003 Australia announced the development of a National
Water Initiative. This Initiative will :
improve the security of water access entitlements ;
i
encourage the expansion of water markets ; and
ensure ecosystem health and protect environmental assets .
Mr Chairman - there are four key elements to achieve this :
First-Water access entitlements
? Unless water access entitlements are secure, private investment will
be constrained. We are proposing to grant permanent (or perpetual)
access entitlements to water users .
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The definition is important . These will be entitlements to a share of
the water resource pool that is made available for use by government .
The size of the water resource pool will be set by government after
open and transparent water planning processes for watersheds and
aquifers . In other words, the water itself is not privatised - but private
investment will be mobilised .
Second-Water trading
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Water access entitlements will be tradeable, leaseable and
mortgageable. This will allow irrigation water to be used for its
highest economic value - while maintaining third party and
environmental protection. In Australia, our recent shift of water use
into high value products, such as wine, would not be possible without
water trade .
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Some water rights will be outside the market and will be given
priority - these will include farmers' domestic and stock needs .
Third-Risk assignment
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Private investment is encouraged where risk profiles are clear . We
will identify the risks of change to the available pool of water .
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Typical risks may be climate variation or policy change arising from
changed community preferences for environmental outcomes .
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We will assign the costs of those risks transparently to users or to
government.
And Fourth-Integrated water planning
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The water planning processes are decentralised and community based.
They engage the communities of water users and those with real
interests in environmental and social outcomes.
1
- 4
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We heard from the UNDP this morning the importance of setting
national targets and benchmarking . In Australia we expect to develop
targets and benchmarks also at a local level - a level that communities
can understand and engage .
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Natural ecological systems - such as watersheds and aquifers - define
the right level for water planning, and for integration with other
natural resource planning . In Australia we have over 50 geographical
water planning regions . In some cases these are then aggregated to
larger basin levels as with our Murray-Darling River systems .
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Water sharing plans will set secure environmental outcomes -
integrated with wider natural resource use planning that promotes
sustainable agriculture and protects environmental assets . We will
ensure that responsibility for allocating and managing water for
ecological systems is clearly specified .
Conclusions
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Mr Chairman;
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We know one size does not fit all countries.
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As countries develop their Integrated Water Resource Management
programs, there may be aspects of Australia's experience that are
useful. I would be happy to share them in more detail with individual
countries.
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Mr Chairman : As we look forward to CSD 13, we should consider
carefully how CSD 13 might set the directions for taking such a
country by country approach to Integrated Water Resource
Management.
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Let me say that the approaches we are taking in Australia are
scaleable - where they are relevant to other countries' circumstances,
they could be modified .
For example, assisting communities of water users and others to
identify objectives for catchments could be a foundation step .
? While some of Australia's measures are not immediately relevant to
all developing countries, we believe that our emphasis on the market
to generate wealth and allocate resources should be considered
seriously by all .
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We have heard this week that poverty is as much a rural issue as it is
an urban issue .
? Rural poverty is a driver for urban migration . Creating security of
access to water resources for irrigated production, and developing
water markets, should help alleviate rural poverty .
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Thank you, Mr Chairman .
