Environments

Environments

In 2020 Dr Moore published a study following her Doctoral research in Australia about the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB), examining the political and economic challenges associated with achieving sustainable water management in the context of climate change and increasing financial constraint. The study considered the institutional arrangements that dictate how water is ‘recovered’ for environmental purposes at the basin scale. The paper suggested that efforts to secure water for environmental purposes like the artificial watering of flood-plains would fall short of the minimum amounts required to ensure the survival of ecosystems in the MDB. In 2023, Professor Jamie Pittock at ANU suggests that as Dr Moore and colleagues expected, these efforts have failed to achieve the goals of the MDB Plan, including securing water for the environment. The analysis presented by Moore and colleagues (below) could help predict policy failures before they happen in regions with similar water entitlement arrangements (e.g., Chile).