Adapting Water Management to Climate Change in the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia

Climate change is threatening water security in water-scarce regions across the world, challenging water management policy in terms of how best to adapt. Transformative new approaches have been proposed, but management policies remain largely the same in many instances, and there are claims that goo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inWater (Basel) Vol. 13; no. 18; p. 2504
Main Authors Prosser, Ian P., Chiew, Francis H. S., Stafford Smith, Mark
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.09.2021
Subjects
Basins
climate adaptation
Climate change
Climate change adaptation
Greenhouse effect
Hydrology
Murray–Darling Basin
Regions
Rivers
Security
Stream flow
Water management
water policy
Water security
Water shortages
Australia
Murray River
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Summary:Climate change is threatening water security in water-scarce regions across the world, challenging water management policy in terms of how best to adapt. Transformative new approaches have been proposed, but management policies remain largely the same in many instances, and there are claims that good current management practice is well adapted. This paper takes the case of the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia, where management policies are highly sophisticated and have been through a recent transformation in order to critically review how well adapted the basin’s management is to climate change. This paper synthesizes published data, recent literature, and water plans in order to evaluate the outcomes of water management policy. It identifies several limitations and inequities that could emerge in the context of climate change and, through synthesis of the broader climate adaptation literature, proposes solutions that can be implemented when basin management is formally reviewed in 2026.
ISSN:2073-4441
2073-4441
DOI:10.3390/w13182504