Abstract
Abstract. At a time when the reliability of freshwater resources has become highly unpredictable, as a result of climate change and increased droughts frequency, the role of scientific evidence in forecasting the availability of seasonal water has become more critical. Australia is one of the driest inhabited continents. Its freshwater availability is highly variable, which poses unique problems for the management of the nation's water resources. Under Australia's federal system, water management challenges have been progressively dealt with through political institutions that rely on best available science to inform policy development. However, it could be argued that evidenced-based policy making is an impossible aim in a highly complex and uncertain political environment: that such a rational approach would be defeated by competing values and vested interests across stakeholders. This article demonstrates that, while science has a fundamental role to play in effective water resource management, the reality on the ground often diverges from the intended aim and does not always reflect efforts at reform. This article briefly reviews the Water Act 2007 (Cth) and comments on why policy makers need to manage rather than try to eliminate uncertainty to promote change.
Highlights
Decision making in water resource management in Australia has long been driven by the need to adapt to changes in water availability and to respond to increasing water scarcity
The role of science in policy making demonstrates that specialist knowledge may or may not influence complex decision making
This article has demonstrated that the treatment of uncertainty in specialist advice largely determines how well the advice fits with, or contradicts the policy goals dominated by the political and stakeholder interests
Summary
Decision making in water resource management in Australia has long been driven by the need to adapt to changes in water availability and to respond to increasing water scarcity. When the Federal Water Act. 2007 (Cth) was introduced in response to Australia’s millennium drought (2001–2009) (van Dijk et al, 2013), and in an attempt to prevent the further decline of water resources in the Murray Darling Basin (MDB) ( referred to as the Basin), one of the key reform measures was to prepare a Basin Plan to cap water extractions to levels that scientific evidence indicated would be sustainable. 3) and proved challenging to guiding management decisions This suggests that science-based knowledge had a limited role in stakeholder engagement outcomes. To demonstrate this point, the article proceeds in three sections. The final section explores the role of science in policy formulation and its effect on decision making relating to water resources more generally. This article concludes that science is key to policy formulation, it is not in itself sufficient to reconcile competing stakeholder interests or to decide which objectives should be achieved and at what cost
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