A new study, released today, has assessed the impacts of climate change at three internationally significant Ramsar wetlands in NSW, South Australia and Victoria, aimed at helping to guide future environmental management of wetlands.
The Murray-Darling Basin Ramsar Climate Change Vulnerability and Adaptation Project, was a 2022 election commitment by the Albanese Government, intended to improve the science and boost Australia's understanding of how climate change is likely to affect Ramsar sites in the Murray-Darling Basin.
The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water and Australia's national science agency, CSIRO, have been undertaking the study since 2023 at:
- Macquarie Marshes Ramsar site near Nyngan, NSW
- Riverland Ramsar site on the Murray River in South Australia
- Barmah Forest Ramsar site on the NSW-Victorian border.
The study found that in the short term the most significant challenge posed by climate change to the wetlands is increased pressure on already irregular flows of water.
In the long term, as the Basin becomes hotter and drier, climate change will also introduce new pressures and amplify existing threatening processes associated with how land is used in the Basin and changes to how water naturally flows.
Those challenges were one of the reasons that the Albanese Government listed the Wetlands and inner floodplains of the Macquarie Marshes, as endangered in January this year.
The project has delivered detailed site-based adaptation pathways by working with local communities, wetland managers and those involved in wetland policy and planning to identify the best management options for enhancing resilience and managing change.
Work is already underway to apply these learnings to other sites within the Basin as well as wetlands across Australia.
This includes providing guidance for the effective use of Commonwealth environmental water in the Basin to value every drop.
The Basin is home to 16 internationally significant wetlands listed under the Ramsar Convention because of their importance to threatened species, biodiversity or unique ecology.
