MANAGING AUSTRALIA’S MAJOR NATURAL RESOURCE: THE MURRAY-DARLING BASIN

Abstract

Extending over some 1 063 000 square kilometres, nearly 14 per cent of Australia, the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) is large by world standards. On the other hand, its surface runoff of 25.5 million ML per annum is small. The basin accounts for over 45 per cent of Australia’s gross value of agricultural production, with total primary and secondary production valued at some $10 000 (Australian dollars) million per annum. But as well as being Australia’s major natural resource, the MDB is also one of the nation’s major resource management problems. Excessive demands are being made on the basin’s surface waters and, in places, its groundwaters. Various forms of land degradation are imposing major costs or agricultural production and the environment. The most serious and costly problems are water and soil salinity, associated with both dryland and irrigation farming.Of all the problems involved in the management of the MDB, however, none is more critical than the fact that it is an inter-jurisdictional river bas...