ANALYSING IMPLICATIONS OF LIMITED WATER AVAILABILITY FOR GREAT BARRIER REEF CATCHMENTS

Abstract

Dependence on water is one of the factors that can determine regional vulnerability in Australia. Climate change is predicted to change rainfall patterns in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) region, and scarce water resources have the potential to make regional Queensland economies increasingly vulnerable. Understanding which economic sectors depend on water as an input factor helps in understanding sectoral and regional vulnerability, and thus in guiding regional policy aimed at structural change. Using a regional Queensland Input–Output (IO) model, this paper integrates water consumption of the GBR region and then compares monetary IO multipliers with water consumption multipliers. We argue that these IO multipliers can inform regional decision makers about potential future regional vulnerability by taking into account limited water resources.

Keywords:

• Input–output modelling
• Water consumption multipliers
• Water resource management

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Aileen Smith and Beau Hug for their dedication in collating the water-related data sets. We wish to thank Manfred Lenzen, Bart Los, Michael Dunlop, Heinz Schandl, and Peter Wiegand for their excellent contributions.

The authors also wish to thank the CSIRO flagship Water for a Healthy Country for funding this research.