Freshwater Protected Area Resourcbook
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14. Endnotes
1 Related to value and condition. 2 Related to value and condition. 3 Throughout this document the term "river" refers to either the entire length or a segment of a river and its immediate environment and includes the lakes, ponds, estuaries, canals or other bodies of water through which it flows. 4 Generally referred to herein as the CHRS. 5 Outstanding value is defined in the Selection Principles in Part 2, Section 3 of of the Canadian Heritage Rivers Board 2000 document. 6 Recreational opportunities could include activities related to tourism. 7 Contact recreational activities are defined in the document Canadian Water Quality Guidelines prepared by the Task Force on Water Quality Guidelines of the Canadian Council of Resource and Environment Ministers, March 1987. 8 Principles of consensus building to be followed are described in Guiding Principles for Consensus Processes approved by the National Round Table on the Environment and Economy in 1993. 9 Rivers in the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut under the administration of the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND) will be nominated jointly by DIAND and the Government of the Territory in which the river is located. 10 A standard nomination form will be used for this purpose. Available supporting documentation or material, including indications of support from private citizens, First Nations, community groups and other stakeholders, will be appended. 11 Designation documents for rivers in the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut under the administration of DIAND will be jointly forwarded by DIAND and the Government of the Territory in which the river is located. 12 See Operational Guideline No. 3, in Part 3 of the Canadian Heritage Rivers Board 2000 document. 13 These procedures are described in more detail in Guideline 5, in Part 3 of the Canadian Heritage Rivers Board 2000 document. 14 These are not actual values and have been inserted for illustrative purposes only. 1 Principle Eight: “Central to the conservation of Australia’s biological diversity is the establishment of a comprehensive, representative and adequate system of ecologically viable protected areas, integrated with sympathetic management of all other areas, including agricultural and resource production systems.” 2 This phrase (CAR) may have originated in Objective 1.4 of The National Strategy for the Conservation of Australia's Biological Diversity 1996. The terms are defined in JANIS 1996. 3 Although at present Australia has no equivalent to Canada’s Heritage River System, there does not appear to be any reason why such an approach would not be successful in Australia (see Nevill and Phillips 2004, Appendix 14). 4 Using the accepted Australian definition of a wetland as an area of low water movement (discussed in more detail in Appendix 8). 5 That is controls over a defined, or designated, area (the protected area) which aim to manage threats in that area. 6 That is controls are available on activities which take place outside the designated area, which seek to controls threats to values inside the designated area. 7 The Murrumbidgee River Corridor contains four nature reserves that include segments of the Murrumbidgee River (i.e. ACT River reserves). They are established under the provisions of the Land (Planning & Environment) Act 1991 with prescribed management objectives for conservation of the natural environment. The enabling Act is not specific to aquatic areas. 8 Reserves may be established over leased or unleased land/water – typically the latter. 9 The ACT Nature Conservation Strategy contains general statements about the protection of aquatic habitats. The Land (Planning & Environment) Act 1991 provides for the reservation of areas of land/water with prescribed management objectives for environmental conservation. Categories are: national park, nature reserve and wilderness area. The Nature Conservation Act 1980 provides management authority for regulation and protection of areas reserved under the LPE Act and which have prescribed management objectives for environmental conservation. Areas reserved under the LPE Act are required to have a management plan which sets out how the prescribed management objectives are to be achieved. 10 The Canadian Heritage River System (CHRS) operates through a multilateral Federal / Provincial / Territory agreement, and depends on management plans having authority through provincial and territorial statutes (see Appendix 14). 11 The CHRS operates through existing legislation and management arrangements (Federal / P&T / landholder). 12 The CHRS operates through existing legislation and management arrangements. 13 Stream reaches containing impoundments cannot be nominated for Heritage River status. 14 Nomination procedures require landholder / landowner support, as well as strong community support. 15 Refer to Hankinson and Blanch 2002 for a full discussion. 16 The minister may proclaim regulations which: (a) prohibit or regulate the taking of fish or marine vegetation from aquatic reserves, and (b) provide for the management, protection and development of aquatic reserves, and (c) classify areas within an aquatic reserve for different uses (such as recreational uses or as a sanctuary). 17 Mining in an aquatic reserve is prohibited. As well, the minister may arrange for a management plan, after public consultation. 18 The landowner’s permission is required for private land to be declared an aquatic reserve. 19 Section 123 prohibits removal, destruction or damage to marine plants. Section 124 allows the Chief Executive to rehabilitate a declared FH area. 20 Section 155. A person must not – (a) take or remove from, place on or in, or introduce in, a fauna reserve or within 100 metres of the edge of the fauna reserve any animal, fish, plant or other living organism without the Director's approval. 21 Section 155. A person must not – (c) do any act which, in the opinion of the Director, is likely to – (i) disturb or pollute the fauna reserve; or (ii) alter the character of the fauna reserve; or (iii) have a deleterious effect on, or alter the nature of, any animal or vegetation in the fauna reserve. 22 See endnote above: prohibition of disturbance, pollution or cause a deleterious effect. 23 Section 154. (1) The Minister, on the recommendation of the Director, may declare any inland waters to be a fauna reserve. (2) The Minister must not make an order in respect of inland waters in which there is a private fishery without the consent of the owner of that fishery. 24 The Act may authorise the expenditure of funds on designated works. 25 The Act may authorise the preparation of a management plan. 26 Section 1(b): It is hereby declared to be the policy of the United States that certain selected rivers of the Nation which, with their immediate environments, possess outstandingly remarkable scenic, recreational, geologic, fish and wildlife, historic, cultural, or other similar values, shall be preserved in free-flowing condition, and that they and their immediate environments shall be protected for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Congress declares that the established national policy of dam and other construction at appropriate sections of the rivers of the United States needs to be complemented by a policy that would preserve other selected rivers or sections thereof in their free-flowing condition to protect the water quality of such rivers and to fulfill other vital national conservation purposes. 27 Reserves created under the terrestrially focused Land Administration Act may, by virtue of s.32 of the Water Conservation Act 1976, be placed under the control of the Water and Rivers Commission (having authority under the Water and Rivers Commission Act 95). Note that treatment of WA in this table needs to be brought up to date with recent changes to WA legislation. 28 Section 89: fishing may be prohibited or regulated in a fisheries reserve. 29 Section 88. Fisheries reserves: (1) The Governor in Council may by Order in Council declare any specified waters which are not reserved under the National Parks Act 1975 to be a fisheries reserve. The reserve must be proclaimed following recommendation of the LCC (now the Victorian Environment Assessment Council). 30 A recent election promise by the NSW Carr Government ear-marked 9 river reaches for designation under the Wild River provisions. Although these streams (other than the Paroo) are generally already well protected within existing nature reserves, this is a welcome move, as it may signal an increasing interest in NSW in protecting high value rivers. The NPWS was actively examining the issue in Feb. 2004. (Thomas Williams, NPWS, pers. comm.) 31 Sections 47 and 48 of the Fisheries Act 1982 (SA) provide for the declaration of both aquatic reserves and marine parks. I believe that (at this stage) no aquatic reserves have been declared over freshwaters. The declaration of marine parks under this legislation is limited to areas of "national significance". 32 Sydney Water Catchment Management Act 1998. 33 Catchment and Land Protection Act 1994. 34 In other words, a nationally consistent means of identifying and selecting rivers and estuaries of high conservation value (see the six-stage planning process described by Margules and Pressey 2000 - discussed in section 3.3); 35 This would be the first step in achieving nationally consistent means of protecting these rivers and estuaries. New tools, like special-purpose legislation (modeled perhaps on Victoria’s Heritage Rivers Act 1992) will take time to develop. 36 This study defines rivers as including dependent estuaries, riparian zones and 1-in-20 year floodplains. 37 The order in which these appear needs to be reconsidered. 38 See the discussion of joint management areas in section 7.8. 39 The order in which these appear needs to be reconsidered. 40 See the discussion of joint management areas in section 7.8. 41 Ramsar Convention: at http://www.ramsar.org/ . 42 After Pressey and McNeil 1996:2 43 Most reserves are surrounded by more extensive areas that are not managed in the same way – the ‘unreserved matrix’ of Franklin (1993). Much of the unreserved matrix is managed for the extraction of natural resources, either for subsistence or profit, and some of the matrix is simply covered over by human developments. Parts of the matrix vary in the extent to which their management promotes the persistence of species, communities and ecosystems, and thereby complements the management of reserves. 44 The terms “comprehensive, adequate and representative” were adopted by the International Convention on Biological Diversity (UNEP 1992), and have subsequently been incorporated into the National Reserves System Program, and the Marine Protected Area National Reserve System Program. 45 Gary Brierley, pers. comm. September 2001. 46 Western Australian Museum, media release 29/8/2000. 47 More general groundwater issues are discussed by Hatton & Evans 1997. 48 Terminology: lentic and lotic (‘still’ and ‘flowing’) freshwater environments. 49 Peter Whitehead and Ray Chatto “Wetlands of the Northern Territory” in Environment Australia (2001) A directory of important wetlands in Australia. Environment Australia; Canberra. 50 Wilson Ponder, Australian Museum, pers. comm. mid-2000. 52 See also the Hansard reports of the hearing of the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Reference Committee into the Plantation Forest Industry, late 2003, regarding evidence from Bill Mannings, a former employee of the Forest Practices Board, the government agency charged with overseeing compliance by Forestry Tasmania (a corporatised government body) with government statutes and regulations. Hansard reports: www.aph.gov.au. 53 Victoria's Heritage Rivers Act 1992 protects both natural values and the scenic and recreational values which form the cornerstone of the USA's Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. 54 The Register of the National Estate is Australia's national inventory of natural and cultural heritage places which are worth keeping for the future. It is compiled by the Australian Heritage Commission - the Commonwealth Government's adviser on the National Estate. There are now more than 12,000 natural, historic and indigenous places in the Register. They come from all parts of Australia and are owned variously by Commonwealth, State and local governments, by businesses, voluntary and other organisations and by private individuals. All places entered in the Register are strictly assessed against publicly available criteria outlining national estate values. The Commonwealth Government is the only body whose actions are formally constrained as a result of listings in the Register of the National Estate; however many listed sites are echoed in State registers, which are generally associated with development restrictions imposed by State planning and development legislation. 55 Refer http://www.unep.ch/bio/bio-intr.html (accessed 28/5/2001). 56 Such as the National Reserves System Program, Regional Forest Agreements, and the National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas. 57 Thackway and Cresswell 1995. 58ANZECC Standing Committee on Conservation 1997:2 59 As discussed below, the Victorian Representative Rivers were established on the basis of a river typology which assumed that river ecologies depended substantially on river geomorphology and hydrology. A more detailed river typology would take into account major variables relating to river ecology: eg: the ability for fish and other aquatic organisms to access the particular site under consideration. 60 JANIS 1996 Report: Nationally Agreed Criteria for the Establishment of a Comprehensive, Adequate and Representative Reserve System for Forests in Australia”, by the Joint ANZECC/MCFFA National Forests Policy Statement Implementation Sub-committee. Definitions are: “Comprehensiveness” covers the full range of forest communities recognised by an agreed national scientific classification at appropriate hierarchical levels; “Adequacy” covers the maintenance of ecological viability and integrity of populations, species and communities. Adequacy also addresses the difficult question of extent and what is the level of reservation that will ensure viability and integrity of populations, species and communities; and “Representativeness” covers those sample areas of the forest that are selected for inclusion in reserves that should reasonably reflect the biotic diversity of the communities. This principle is designed to ensure that the diversity within each forest ecosystem is sampled with in the reserve system. 61 National Forest Policy Statement 1992, 1995. 62 In NSW the 15% was treated as a baseline, with targets for may forest ecosystems ramped up according to rarity and vulnerability to clearing (Bob Pressey, pers. comm. June 2001). 63 Environment Australia NRS website page, accessed 6/10/2000. 64 The difficulties in managing the cumulative effects of incremental development is further discussed in chapter 4 of Nevill (2001). 65 Section 1.3. Document accessed from www.ea.gov.au, November 2002. 66 Commonwealth of Australia 1998:22 67 Commonwealth of Australia 1998:22 68 Murray-Darling Basin Ministerial Council 1998; Murray-Darling Basin Commission 1998. 69 According to Stuart Blanch (Inland Rivers Network) pers.comm. 6/9/00:
70 In spite of dramatic declines in water pressure of the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) the largest artesian basin the in world, there are still hundreds of large uncontrolled bores which have simply been "left running" to supply stock with drinking water. While the principles of the GAB Strategic Management include the need to provide environmental flows for dependent ecosystems, the precautionary principle is not listed or discussed in the Strategy. According to Endersbee (1999) 80% of the entire yield of the GAB is wasted. The Northern Territory, even under water reforms brought in during 2000, requires no licence or other controls over bores running at less that 15 L/s (Ref: NT Land, Planning and Environment web site, accessed February 2001). Fifteen L/s is equivalent to nearly 500 ML/year. 71 Bailey & James 1999. 72 Boulton and Brooks, 1999. 74 Blanch, 1999. 75 Commonwealth of Australia 1997:7. 76 Kingsford 2000. 77 Margaret Brock, pers.comm. 4/9/2000. 78 Jim Puckridge, Adelaide University, pers. comm. 5/9/2000. 79 Boulton AJ and Brock MA (1999) Australian Freshwater Ecology, Processes and Management. Gleneagles Publishing, Glen Osmond, South Australia. 80 Marshall J, Negus P, Marshall C, Choy S, Bell D and Gooda M (2001) Development of empirical relationships between flow regime and ecological condition in Queensland rivers. Freshwater Biological Monitoring Report No. 29. Queensland Department of Natural Resources. 81 Blanch S (1999) Environmental flows: present and future. Paper presented at the Australian National Committee on Large Dams 199 Conference on 15 - 16 November, Jindabyne, New South Wales. 82 State government water agencies in all States tend to turn a blind eye to illegal dams. An exception is provided by a recent campaign by the Victorian government, including an advertising campaign and a moratorium from prosecution. This campaign (see Weekly Times 13 August 2003) resulted in farmers applying to licence thousands of illegal dams. A similar situation exists regarding the illegal clearing of native vegetation. The Australian Broadcasting Commission's Background Briefing of 14 September 2003 details the almost complete failure of the NSW State government to enforce its legislation controlling land clearing. 83 Pers. comm. Winston Ponder, Australian Museum, 3/8/2000. 84 These levels can be expanded, however. Refer Commonwealth of Australia 1997b: 7. 86 Refer to Principle 8, National Strategy for the Protection of Australia's Biological Diversity (Commonwealth of Australia 1996). 87 Articulated in the Convention on Biological Diversity, and through the Ramsar Convention and other associated wetland agreements. 88 Phillips, N. Bennett, J and Moulton D (2001) Principles and tools for protecting Australian rivers. Land and Water Australia. 89 Dunn, Helen (2000) Identifying and protecting rivers of high ecological value; LWRDDC Occasional Paper 01/00. Land and Water Resources Research and Development Corporation, Canberra 90 Boon P J and Baxter J M (1999) Issues in aquatic conservation: past, present and future. An introduction. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecology 9: 495 – 496. 91 Collier, K.J., (1993) Towards a Protocol for Assessing the Natural Value of New Zealand Rivers. Science and Research Series No.58 Department of Conservation, Wellington, New Zealand. 92 Allan, J.D.and Flecker, A.S. (1993) Biodiversity Conservation in Running Waters: Identifying the major factors that threaten destruction of riverine species and ecosystems. Bioscience, 43(1) 32-43. 93 Dunn, Helen (2000) Identifying and protecting rivers of high ecological value; LWRDDC Occasional Paper 01/00. Land and Water Resources Research and Development Corporation, Canberra. 94 ARMCANZ & ANZECC (1994) 95Reynoldson, TB; Norris, RH; Resh, VH; Day, KE; Rosenberg, DM (1997). The reference condition: a comparison of multimetric and multivariate approaches to assess water-quality impairment using benthic macroinvertebrates. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 16, 833-852. 96 Many GAB stock bores have a wastage rate of 90% or more (see http://www.gab.org.au/about/managementgab.html#key) 97 According to Buz Wilson, Australian Museum (email 6/10/02) “An inventory, in my view, should also include a complete known species list for sections of each drainage. At the moment, this has not be done for any Australian River. The River Murray has only a partial job done, thanks to the work in the 1980's”. 98 Note that a technical group has formed under the Cooperative Research Centre for Coastal Zone, Estuaries and Waterway Management (CRC CZEWM) to continue collation and standardisation of estuary assessment activity. Contact: Roger Shaw. 99 For example, a development proposal undergoing environmental impact assessment will be placed under additional scrutiny if a Ramsar wetland is likely to be affected, compared with a wetland of only ‘local’ value. In terms of water use, section 40 of Victoria’s Water Act 1989 provides a number of ‘triggers’ increasing the level of scrutiny of water allocation decisions. Impact on a designated heritage river is among the listed triggers. Strangely, reference to Victoria’s 15 representative rivers is not included in s.40. This appears to be an oversight in the drafting of the Act, and should, in my opinion, be corrected as soon as practical. Ramsar sites also need to be added to the heads of consideration within s.40. Victoria’s water quality policy contains provisions for the protection of ecosystems of high ecological value (Ramsar sites are included under this term). 100 A keystone species is a species which, although possibly not dominant on a biomass basis, plays a key ecological role. Sea otters, for example, are a keystone species in Californian kelp forests, as they prey on sea urchins which in turn feed on kelp. 101 Based on US inventory classification methods developed in the 1970s. 102 Biodiversity is usually defined in terms of genes, species and ecosystems. 103 Where sufficient information on the distribution of habitat attributes is not available, higher order biodiversity surrogates will need to be used – such as mapped boundaries of habitat types or (at a higher level again) ecosystem types. 104 The program has two additional major components: Support for Water Reform – providing additional scientific input to underpin the sustainable management of Australia’s water resources. Inputs include: establishing adequate environmental flows; ensuring water resource development is sustainable; developing strategies to reduce withdrawals in over-allocated systems and supporting integrated catchment management. Groundwater - including a research project to identify groundwater dependent ecosystems throughout Australia, and the best methods to identify the environmental water requirements for these groundwater systems. 105 Pers. comm. Janet Stein ANU Feb 2004: "The project developed some interesting methods but the data was not available at suitable resolutions to produce useful results at the reach scale. It was however useful as an overview for the intensive land use zone." 106 Chessman (2002) was a trial of a more detailed, standardised and objective process than the original Stressed Rivers process (which was a desktop assessment based partly on opinion and partly on patchy existing data of limited scope and sometimes uncertain quality). Chessman’s proposal used the same general framework which was based on both 'river health' and conservation significance. 107 As discussed below, the Victorian Representative Rivers were established on the basis of a river typology which assumed that river ecologies depended substantially on river geomorphology and hydrology. A more detailed river typology would take into account major variables relating to river ecology: eg: the ability for fish and other aquatic organisms to access the particular site under consideration. 108 NSW statutes require local government authorities to take account of the need to protect wetlands identified in SEPP 14 when considering applications for development planning approvals. 109 “A study of the Victoria River and its major tributaries, along the same lines as that conducted for the Daly and Roper River Catchments, did take place during 1996 but a report has not been produced. The data has been entered into a database that eventually will be in a centralised location and can be accessed to varying degrees by others” – email from Judy Faulks, 31/7/02. 110 Blackman JG “Queensland wetlands” in: A Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia 2001. 111 See the section of the discussion paper dealing with South Australia. 112 Blackhall, McEntee and Rollins, Tasmanian wetlands, in: A Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia 2001. 113 PLM100 – public land management mapped at an equivalent resolution of 1:100,000. 114 Accessed 24/7/2002. 115 See above sections in this report. 116 Stuart Halse, CALM WA, email 12/12/05: “Semeniuk’s lentic water classification is widely used in WA. The original reference is Semeniuk CA (1987) Wetlands of the Darling system - a geomorphic approach to habitat classification. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia Yüklə 1,93 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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