A Watershed in River Protection

“A system of ‘designation in perpetuity’ such as we have developed for National Parks and Reserves may be an essential step towards long-term protection of our river systems” said Professor Peter Cullen, Chief Executive of the Cooperative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology and recipient of this year’s Prime Minister’s ‘Environmentalist of the Year Award’.

Professor Cullen, a tireless campaigner for water reform, supports the establishment of a system of river reserves for rivers of high conservation value. Professor Cullen recently expressed his views in the CRC for Freshwater Ecology’s Watershed magazine.

“Much of our present energy is devoted to trying to restore severely degraded river systems. It is important that we also identify river systems that are in good condition and prevent any further degradation or loss of biodiversity. We need a National System of Heritage River Reserves that allows present levels of usage to continue, but protects them from further development”, Professor Cullen said.

Professor Cullen added, “The states have established processes for identifying such rivers. What we now need is a formal system of designation that provides for their ongoing protection.”

“We have a number of rivers already identified as requiring protection, and this has already occurred. The Paroo River and Coopers Ck in Queensland, the Ovens River in Victoria, the East Alligator in Northern Territory, the Clarence in New South Wales and the Fitzroy in Western Australia are some examples."

“However, the trouble with the current State approach is that it leaves the designated rivers vulnerable to pressure with a change of Government.”

“The current protection is of a limited nature, and the pressures to ‘develop’ these water resources will only increase as water becomes scarce and the price of it continues to escalate. Pressures on State Ministers in these situations can be intense, and so a system of designation in perpetuity, such as we have developed for National Parks and Nature Reserves seems an essential step to long term protection of these systems.” Professor Cullen said.

Apart from protecting one of our most important natural assets (our rivers), a system of river reserves will do three things: It will help Australia meets it’s international obligations on protecting biodiversity. It will allow the development of benchmarks of river health so that we can assess how rivers change over time and finally, protected rivers may act as biological ‘seeding’ sources for rivers downstream that are degraded, helping to restore downstream rivers to a healthy state.

Professor Cullen thinks that “in return for designation that gives longer term protection, landholders and managers could be given access to funding for the actions identified. These might include the building of fish ladders that allow free movement of fish through weirs and dams, and restoration work to restore and protect riverbank vegetation.”

The Cooperative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology is a world-class research centre specialising in river system ecology, river restoration and sustainable river management.

A complete copy of Professor Cullen’s article on a National System of Heritage Rivers is available on the CRC’s website http://freshwater.canberra.edu.au Select publications, scroll down and select WaterShed July 2001.

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