Socio-hydrologic drivers of the pendulum swing between agricultural development and environmental health: a case study from Murrumbidgee River basin, Australia
This paper presents a case study centred on the Murrumbidgee River basin in eastern Australia. It illustrates the dynamics of the balance between water extraction and use for food production, and efforts to mitigate and reverse consequent degradation of the riparian environment. In particular, the p...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2014-03-01
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| Series: | Hydrology and Earth System Sciences |
| Online Access: | http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/18/1027/2014/hess-18-1027-2014.pdf |
| Summary: | This paper presents a case study centred on the Murrumbidgee River basin in
eastern Australia. It illustrates the dynamics of the balance between water
extraction and use for food production, and efforts to mitigate and reverse
consequent degradation of the riparian environment. In particular, the paper
traces the history of a pendulum swing between an exclusive focus on
agricultural development and food production in the initial stages and its
attendant socio-economic benefits, followed by the gradual realization of the
adverse environmental impacts, subsequent efforts to mitigate these with the
use of remedial measures, and ultimately concerted efforts and externally
imposed solutions to restore environmental health and ecosystem services. The
100-year history of development within the Murrumbidgee is divided into four
eras, each underpinned by the dominance of different values and norms and
turning points characterized by their changes. The various stages of
development can be characterized by the dominance, in turn, of infrastructure
systems, policy frameworks, economic instruments, and technological
solutions. The paper argues that, to avoid these costly pendulum swings,
management needs to be underpinned by long-term coupled socio-hydrologic
system models that explicitly include the two-way coupling between human and
hydrological systems, including the slow evolution of human values and norms
relating to water and the environment. Such coupled human–water system
models can provide insights into dominant controls of the trajectory of their
co-evolution in a given system, and can also be used to interpret patterns of
co-evolution of such coupled systems in different places across gradients of
climatic, socio-economic and socio-cultural conditions, and in this way to
help develop generalizable understanding. |
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| ISSN: | 1027-5606 1607-7938 |