AWA Water Reporting Plenary 31 March 2004, Sydney

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AWA Water Reporting Plenary 31 March 2004,
Sydney Prof Jennifer McKAY UniSA Convenor Special
interest Group water management Law and
Policy ADVANCES IN THE MANAGEMENT OF WATER
RESOURCES Water allocation- what is the preferred
way forward? welcome Thank the 16 speakers and
2 key notes who presented us with summaries and
evaluations of international and national water
law and policy and the attendees yesterday
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my water today is your water tomorrow
Catch cry for modern Water policies and laws
WATER LAWS AND POLICIES UNDER STRESS AS 1
changing patterns of use 2 climate change 3
historical approaches not sustainable relied on
increase supply in an introspective way 4
Debate over water as a public good or a commodity
water

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my water today is your water tomorrow
Change in water allocation policies and
institutions required address the big issue
ACHIEVING MULTI OBJECTIVES CHANGES REQUIRED 1
incorporation of environmental issues and notions
of reserve being done in many jurisdictions 2
incorporation of stakeholders in management
regimes transparently 3 regime change in
Australian States to reflect harmonisation of
rules for water markets, environmental management
practices, overall pricing to reflect
environmental costs and CSOs
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my water today is your water tomorrow

• Need to understand the impact of policies and
  laws on management behaviour and also on
  consumer/ stakeholder behaviour
• legions of examples of perverse behaviour as we
  are not rational users of resources
• need to work out reasonable methods which
  assess the impacts of policies

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my water today is your water tomorrow

• need powerful intergovernmental commissions with
  long term management aims to harmonise laws rules
  and policies and to adapt these when new and
  better information is available from the
  community and the environment
• unbundling of water property rights in rural
  areas we need to harmonise rules for assessment
  of 3rd party effects.

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my water today is your water tomorrow

• SUSTAINABILITY IS NOT AN ATTRACTIVE CONCEPT OVER
  A THREE YEAR POLITICAL TERMS
• ESSENTIAL TO WORK OUT EQUITABLE AND REASONABLE
  UTILIZATION APPROACHES AND PUT THESE IN LAWS
  again there are many current ATTEMPTS at this Vic
  and Qld
• INTERNATIONAL OBLIGATIONS

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my water today is your water tomorrow

• Water laws need to redefine roles of the user
  groups
• international law provides examples and in many
  ways Australia has the tools and the communities
  to make the leap forward to achieve sustainable
  water management and allocation policies
• Allocation tolls need to develop and assess
  new policy instruments

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my water today is your water tomorrow
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my water today is your water tomorrow
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my water today is your water tomorrow

• Thank you