The Australian Land Conservation Alliance has welcomed today’s decision by Environment Minister Murray Watt to list the River Murray downstream of the Darling River, along with its associated aquatic and floodplain systems, as critically endangered under federal law. The listing recognises the severe decline of the Murray River ecosystem and provides the highest level of protection available under Australia’s national environmental law.
Major new developments must now consider impacts on the whole ecological community, including critical habitats and key species, not just individual species or wetlands.
Today’s announcement also saw the listing of the wetlands and inner floodplains of the Macquarie Marshes that eventually drain into the Darling River.
The listing is long overdue, and a sobering recognition that these ecosystems are on life support and are in desperate need of further investment to ensure their recovery.
Jody Gunn, CEO of the Australian Land Conservation Alliance said:
Australian Land Conservation Alliance members steward and protect larges areas of land up and down the Murray Basin system.
The Lower Murray River ecosystem is the lifeblood for many regional economies and livelihoods across eastern Australia. Unfortunately, the risk of environmental collapse will only increase without significant investment in these ecosystems. The impacts of collapse would be catastrophic, and cascading, with fewer fish breeding events, reduced waterbird migrations, degraded floodplains, and collapsing food webs across multiple catchments.
The listing is a step in the right direction. However, these threatened systems won’t recover without sustained, committed funding to pull them back from the brink, and coordinated action from all levels of government. We urgently need long-term Federal Budget investment in the recovery of Australia’s threatened species and threatened ecological communities, with Federal funding currently scheduled to end this financial year. The health of Australia’s most important river system and the communities that depend on it need real, long-term commitment.”
Photo by Zac Edmonds on Unsplash
