Transcript Taking environmental water requirements and

Taking environmental water requirements
and climate change into account in the
designation and management of
protected areas for floodplain ecosystems
Paul Peake & Joan Phillips, Victorian Environmental
Assessment Council (VEAC)
What is VEAC?
• Victorian Environmental Assessment Council
• Independent, 5-member Council advising the Victorian
government on public land use
• Nearly all of Victoria’s marine and terrestrial protected
areas have resulted from recommendations of VEAC
and its predecessors (back to 1970)
• ... but little consideration of freshwater protected areas
independently of terrestrial areas
• Work is largely done in Investigations covering particular
regions and under Terms of Reference provided by the
government
River Red Gum Forests Investigation
• April 2005 to July 2008
• 3 reports (each preceded by
public consultation):
– Discussion Paper
– Draft Proposals Paper
– Final Report
• 273 recommendations for public land use – general and
location-specific; government is currently considering
these recommendations and is yet to respond
River Red Gum Forests Investigation Area
Riverine Wetlands
River Red Gum Forests Investigation Area
Wetland Stress
Barmah-Millewa Forest Flooding 2005
VEAC Draft Proposals
• More Water !!
Issues with ‘More Water’
• Why? To protect what? How do you know it’s
enough / not too much? (“it’s a lot of water”)
• What about climate change?
• If we can’t water everything, what would be the
best trade-offs to make?
New Approach
• Document and map natural values of the
floodplain and their water requirements –
i.e., frequency and duration of flooding
• Provides flexibility to maximise biodiversity
outcomes with any volume of water (and
any climate change scenario)
Values
• Included:
– Vegetation types (EVCs), threatened terrestrial
vertebrate taxa
• Not included:
– Threatened aquatic and invertebrate taxa; regionally
threatened taxa
– Recovery of threatened taxa
– Species richness
– Colony sites for non-threatened taxa
– Kerang wetlands, interstate ...
Flood-dependent Threatened Species Sites
Compilation of Flood-dependent Natural Values
Compilation of Values near Robinvale
Coverage of Natural Values near Robinvale
Coverage of EVCs near Robinvale
Future Work
• Values and areas not included
• Overbank flows and ecological connectivity
• Framework for comparing values
• Review conservation status assessments
• Refine estimates of water requirements
• Develop, communicate, implement, monitor and refine
floodplain watering strategies – get on with it!
More Information and Full Report
www.veac.vic.gov.au