Watering country: Aboriginal partnerships with environmental water managers of the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia

ABSTRACT

A complex environmental water governance system has developed in Australia over the past decade, with institutional arrangements that allow government and non-government organisations to acquire and manage substantial volumes of water for the benefit of the environment. Management of environmental water in partnership with other parties presents Aboriginal people with an opportunity to access water and restore environments, as well as reaffirm and rebuild socio-ecological relationships and water-dependent livelihoods. This article describes the emergence of collaborative partnerships between environmental water managers and Aboriginal community organisations in the Murray–Darling Basin to water country. Through case study profiles, the article shows how Aboriginal organisations and water managers are working together to improve the quality of wetlands, as perceived by traditional owners and others, and to share more equitably in the benefits from the acquisition and management of environmental water. The constraints and barriers are discussed, alongside the conditions that have laid the foundations for this emerging form of co-management of water.

KEYWORDS:

• Aboriginal water management
• Indigenous water rights
• environmental water holders
• wetland management
• environmental water trusts

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the staff and executive members of the organisations involved in Aboriginal water management partnerships. We also thank the anonymous reviewers of the draft manuscript. All remaining errors are the responsibility of the authors.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Sue Jackson https://doi.org/0000-0001-6498-5783

Notes

1. The coordinator passed away soon after this interview was conducted in November 2016. Because it was not possible to check whether he wanted to be referred to by name in this article, as was done with other people interviewed, we have removed his name from the text.

2. The agreement has since been extended until 30 June 2019.

Additional information

Funding

This project was supported by the Australian Research Council, Future Fellowships Scheme funding scheme [project number FT130101145].