Delivering Sustainability through Risk Management

Product Information

Any future expansion of irrigated agriculture in Australia is likely to occur in northern Australia. The region of Australia north of the tropic of Capricorn has abundant water resources — over 60% of the nations surface water run-off (NLWA 2001). However, there are concerns that in the rush to develop this new bonanza we will simply make the same mistakes that plague existing irrigation systems. These include: water logging, salinization, soil acidification, erosion, polluted runoff, changes to the flow regimes in rivers, and so on.

It will be important that any decisions to develop new irrigation systems on or associated with Australia’s northern tropical rivers, are based on rational decision-making using the best available knowledge, and a precautionary approach where knowledge is lacking. Considerable knowledge already exists on the best (and worst) features of irrigation schemes in tropical regions. Much of Asia has been growing rice for centuries using various forms of irrigation. We must learn from this experience