Cry me a river: building trust and maintaining legitimacy in environmental flows

ABSTRACT

Water reforms in Australia over a decade ago have seen large-scale recovery of water for the environment. While the recovery programme commenced with bilateral political support, there has remained ongoing debate in the media around the recovery volume, method of recovery and delivering of this water through the river system. In November 2017, a group of academics and practitioners met to discuss the need for legitimacy as a core component of environmental water programmes. We discuss legitimacy in terms of both the process and outcome of an environmental water programme. This article, along with the others in the special issue, makes the case for investing in community support for, and demonstrating outcomes from, environmental water programmes.

KEYWORDS:

• Legitimacy
• river
• environmental flows
• trust
• engagement

Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the Academy of Social Sciences Australia, as well as all the participants in the workshop, who generously contributed their ideas and experience.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Notes

1. Percy the Perch can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJHVWE0U3Io.

2. Merv Hughes is a former member of the Australian cricket team and is widely respected and beloved by many Australians.

3. More information on the Environmental Water Matters Forum and how it informs environmental water management can be found at http://www.vewh.vic.gov.au/environmental-water/shared-community-benefits.

Additional information

Funding

This paper draws on the proceedings of the national workshop, Going beyond the crisis response: building trust and maintaining legitimacy in environmental flows, held in Melbourne, 27–28 November 2017. This workshop was jointly funded by the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) and the Centre for Resources, Energy and Environment Law at Melbourne Law School. Dr Avril Horne is a DECRA fellow funded through [ARC DE180100550].

Notes on contributors

Erin L. O’Donnell

Dr Erin L. O’Donnell is a water law and policy specialist, bringing together skills and experience in aquatic ecology, environmental planning and water governance. She has worked in water resource management since 2002, in both the private and public sectors. Erin’s research focus is the legal rights for rivers, and the challenges and opportunities it creates for protecting the multiple social, cultural and natural values of rivers. Her book, Legal Rights for Rivers: Competition, Collaboration, and Water Governance, is available now. Erin is a Senior Fellow at the University of Melbourne Law School, and a member of the inaugural Birrarung Council, the voice of the Yarra River.

Avril C. Horne

Dr Avril C. Horne is a water policy specialist, with a rare combination of experience across economics, hydrology and policy. With 15 years’ of experience across a range of interdisciplinary projects, she has spent time in consulting, government and academia. She is currently a DECRA fellow at the University of Melbourne. Avril is the lead editor for Water for the Environment: from policy and science to implementation and management, a book that includes contributions from over 50 leading international scientists and practitioners.

Lee Godden

Professor Lee Godden is the Director, Centre for Resources, Energy and Environmental Law. She researches in environmental law, natural resources law, energy and indigenous peoples’ rights. Recently, she has undertaken consultancies and reports on climate change adaptation, native title law reform and cultural flows. She has published widely on water law and governance, water rights and reform and community-based sustainability initiatives in water governance. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences Australia and the Australian Academy of Law.

Brian Head

Professor Brian Head is a public policy and governance expert. He was previously a senior policy advisor in the Queensland government and has undertaken programme evaluations for state and federal government departments. He has published widely on policy analysis, natural resource management, social policy, evidence utilisation and wicked problems. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences Australia.