Posted by: sustainadelic
on 22 Oct, 2010
The fury aroused by proposed cuts to water allocations in the Murray Darling is understandable - and illustrates why the river is in a mess in the first place.
Opponents of water cuts argue for a "balance" between the needs of the environment, business and community. But this represents a fundamental misunderstanding about the relationship between economics and the environment.
A sustainable economy depends on a healthy environment - you can't trade one for the other. We can get away with environmental damage only by passing the cost onto future generations - a debilitating "ecological debt" for our grandchildren.
Put simply: we have to fix the river then built industries around sustainable water extraction.
The same applies to the planet.
The United Nations Environment Program' (UNEP) recently published The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) report. Described as the "Stern Report of Biodiversity" it tries to put a price on the massive loss of biodiversity Earth is now experiencing.
(This article on the BBC website summaries the report.)
The key concept here is "natural services" - a term for how nature delivers resources and services we need, such as clean water or protection from the elements. For instance, coral reefs, mangrove swamps and coastal dunes reduce damage to coastal communities from storms, cyclones and hurricanes. Without them we'd have to spend billions on massive artificial sea defences.
For the record, the TEEB calculates that price as between $2tn and $4.5tn a year.
In reality the price is infinite, because the loss of these natural services is felt forever (as in: $4.5tn x infinity) or at least for however long humans are likely to be around.
But the TEEB report at least draws attention to the damage we are doing to the planet's ecosystems - and underlines how our economic wellbeing depends on a healthy environment.
Unlikely as it seems, the Tasmanian forestry industry could be a beacon of hope in all this darkness. After decades of forestry wars, a historic truce is in the offing to end logging in native forest. Up to 60 per cent of forestry contractors could leave the industry, with funding for reskilling, relocation and alternative job creation.
The same sort of thinking could save the Murray Darling. And, just possibly, the planet.
Posted by:
on 25 Apr, 2009
Adelaide is facing the prospect of
having no water supply within two years, following six years of drought, the worse dry spell ever and forecasts of more of the same. The Murray-Darling river system, which supplies all Adelaide's water as well as irrigating Australia's agricultural breadbasket, is down to 18 per cent of capacity.
As the article says, the Murray currently holds 940 gigalitres of water. Although only 350 gigalitres are required to meet current water demand, evaporation means 1000 gigalitres is required to transport that 350 gigalitres along the river.
