Submission on Draft Lake Eyre Basin Strategic Plan
2022
Professor Richard Kingsford is the Director of the Centre for Ecosystem Science, UNSW Sydney and has an extensive working history as a river scientist for government and university sectors. This submission focuses on the overall structure of the Draft Lake Eyre Basin Strategic Plan. There is considerable value in having this overarching plan and this submission analyses the ability of this plan to address the parameters of scale, governance, values, threats and resourcing all of which are pertinent to the success of such a plan.
There are a total of 21 recommendations aiming to increase the efficacy of the Draft Lake Eyre Basin Strategic Plan by helping to tailor the Plan to the specific requirements and needs of the Lake Eyre Basin, as currently the Vision and many of its objectives do not adequately represent the values of the Lake Eyre Basin and its communities and threats that are specific to this Basin.
This submission includes specific comments relating to the Vision of the Plan and each of its goals and objectives The submission makes recommendations to:
- refine and specify the scale to achieve greater focus
- increase detail in relation to current legislation and policy to provide sufficient direction to achieve the Vision
- widen the scope of values addressed including addition of the free-flowing status on the world stage of the Lake Eyre Basin
- expand the threats to the Basin e.g. include potential pollutants and increase the level of scientific evidence referenced
- address the human and financial resources required to implement this plan.
