Towards Constructing a New Governance Framework for CSG and Mining Impacts on Sustainable Agriculture in Australia: A Case Study of the Darling Downs, Queensland.

Abstract

Disturbance to groundwater systems by the Coal Seam Gas industry pose a potential threat to irrigators particularly in New South Wales and Queensland, Australia. Analysing legislation from several different perspectives, including that of CSG mining and water rights, finds that the regulatory framework does not adequately address the long-term cumulative impacts of CSG mining on agriculture, natural resources and ecosystems. It also finds that the current mining governance framework, based on private rights constructs, is unable to adequately regulate water use and prevent third party impacts particularly in the CSG sector. Embedding a risk assessment and management approach in the regulatory framework which integrates water allocation and mining decision-making will provide considerable benefits including: enabling key stakeholders in the catchment to make informed decisions about sustainable water abstraction; establishing threshold levels for determining appropriate times to allow replenishment of water supplies; identifying and addressing cumulative impacts at a strategic regional scale; and ways for resource managers, environmentalists and agriculturalists to work with the CSG sector to amalgamate the precautionary principle along with adaptive management to provide for sustainable agriculture.