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Evaluating the ecological benefits of management actions to complement environmental flows in river systems
journal contribution
posted on 2021-01-05, 00:00 authored by Sam Nicol, J Angus Webb, Rebecca LesterRebecca Lester, Marcus Cooling, Paul Brown, Ian Cresswell, Heather M McGinness, Susan M Cuddy, Lee J Baumgartner, Daryl Nielsen, Martin Mallen-Cooper, Danial StratfordGlobally, many river systems are under stress due to overconsumption of water. Governments have responded with programmes to deliver environmental water to improve environmental outcomes. Although such programmes are essential, they may not be sufficient to achieve all desired environmental outcomes. The benefits of environmental water allocation may be improved using ‘complementary measures’, which are non-flow-based actions, such as infrastructure works, vegetation management and pest control. The value of complementary measures is recognised globally, but their ecological benefits are rarely well understood, either because there is limited experience with their application, or the importance of context- and location-specific factors make it difficult to generalise benefits. In this study, we developed an approach to evaluate complementary measures at different levels of detail as a mechanism to aid decision-making. For systems that require a rapid, high-level evaluation, we propose a score-based multi-criteria benefit assessment module. If more ecological detail is necessary, we outline a method based on conceptual models, expert elicitation and probability assessment. These results are used to populate a cumulative benefit assessment tool. The tool evaluates the benefits of proposed measures in the wider context by including variables such as flow, dependence on ongoing maintenance and additional ecological values. We illustrate our approach through application to the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia. As many water recovery programmes mature into their evaluation phases, there is an increasing need to evaluate the ecological benefits of including complementary measures in the toolkit available to policy makers.
History
Journal
Environmental ManagementVolume
67Pagination
277 - 290Publisher
Springer New York LLCLocation
New York, N.Y.Publisher DOI
ISSN
0364-152XeISSN
1432-1009Language
engPublication classification
C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journalCopyright notice
2021, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer NatureUsage metrics
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No categories selectedKeywords
Bayesian networksEnvironmental wateringFishwaysFreshwaterMulti-criteria decision analysisNatural resource managementScience & TechnologyLife Sciences & BiomedicineEnvironmental SciencesEnvironmental Sciences & EcologyMACCULLOCHELLA-PEELII-PEELIIADAPTIVE MANAGEMENTDECISION-SUPPORTREHABILITATIONIMPACTCODSTANDARDSKNOWLEDGENETWORKSRECOVERY
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