Solutions to the problem of dryland salinity in Queensland

Land and water degradation costs Australia approximately $3.5 billion annually and salinity is one of the biggest contributors to this degradation.

It is undoubtedly one of the major environmental issues facing Australia in the new millennium.

In Queensland, we are fortunate not to have the severe land and water degradation issues of southern and western Australia.

Approximately 48,000 hectares of land in Queensland are currently affected by localised outbreaks of dryland salinity, compared to an estimated 2.5 million hectares of land Australia-wide.

However, emerging information indicates that the area affected by dryland salinity in Queensland could rise to 3 million hectares by 2050 under current land use practices.

Queensland has an excellent opportunity to redress the state’s salinity and water quality issues before they get out of hand.

The challenge for Queensland is to prevent salinity degradation of land and water by adopting new and appropriate farming and natural resource management systems.

We have already come a long way in the past few years.

New vegetation management guidelines have been introduced, as have new water laws aimed at improving the security of supply for users, ensuring that future water developments are sustainable and protecting the health of our rivers and catchments.

The Queensland Government has also committed significant funds and resources to a rural water use efficiency initiative and to thousands of environmental projects through the Natural Heritage Trust.

The Department of Natural Resources and Mines (DNRM) will soon complete a survey of dryland salinity throughout Queensland, which will lead to the compilation of a detailed salinity hazard map for the State.

Once completed, the salinity hazard map will be an invaluable indicative tool for natural resource managers and regional planners.

DNRM has also recently completed its annual salinity monitoring program,‘Saltwatch Snapshot’.

Through the program, community groups and individuals are asked to check the salinity levels of their local waterways and feed this information into the Department’s database and mapping programs. The information collected helps DNRM scientists keep track of salinity and assess salinity trends in our waterways.

Queensland also became the first state to sign the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) on the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality in January 2001.

Under this initiative, $162 million of matching Commonwealth/State funds have been dedicated to Queensland over the next seven years.

The IGA requires that the funding will be used in a partnership arrangement between the Commonwealth and State Governments and community-based regional groups to help prevent salinisation and enhance water quality, by addressing areas of existing land and water degradation caused by salinity.

The four areas identified for action by Queenslanders under the National Action Plan are the catchments of the Fitzroy and Burdekin Rivers; the upper Brisbane/Lockyer, Burnett and Mary Rivers; the Balonne, Condamine and Maranoa Rivers and the border rivers.

The National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality embodies a new approach to natural resource management, by providing funding for community-driven implementation of integrated catchment plans.

The new approach calls for planning against scientifically-based targets, identifying priority actions and establishing an investment plan to meet those targets.

Once Commonwealth and State governments accredit those plans, funds will be devolved to the regional body for implementation under a partnership arrangement.

While this focus provides an excellent opportunity to establish integrated plans for the priority regions, Queensland will continue to address natural resource issues in an integrated way in the rest of the State.

The Department of Natural Resources and Mines is the lead State Government agency for the National Action Plan and is working collaboratively with a number of other State Government agencies to ensure a whole-of-Government approach.

The other agencies involved are Primary Industries, Environmental Protection Agency, Local Government and Planning, State Development, Premier and Cabinet, and Treasury.

The Department of Natural Resources and Mines is inviting input from existing community groups, as well as local governments, industry representatives, and the community so that regional cooperative arrangements can be developed at a local level.

Drawing on existing sustainable land and water use initiatives, regional plans will include the key components of:

• clarification and determination of targets for salinity, water quality and water flows;
• provision of scientific and economic bases for targets, e.g. ultrasound salinity mapping and assessment of catchment conditions;
• prioritisation of actions to improve natural resource condition and adoption of sustainable management practices; and
• planned investment for implementation.

The Queensland Government will assist in the provision of expert scientific and technical advice as well as information on engineering innovations and ensure that each group has appropriate representation.

My Department has already completed a series of workshops in collaboration with the Department of Primary Industries and the Environmental Protection Agency to support the National Action Plan, giving local communities a state-wide overview of salinity and water quality issues, with an update of regional scale information and current and future science priorities.

Work carried out under the National Action Plan will build on existing sustainability initiatives and work already done in communities to improve the state of health of our natural resources and to ensure their sustainable use.

Dryland salinity occurs when over-clearing of vegetation causes the water table to rise, bringing to the surface salts that previously lay deep in the earth.

There are many techniques to investigate salinity such as testing conductivity and airborne geophysics.

The National Action Plan on Salinity and Water Quality is the impetus for wider use of these and other techniques to determine the cause of salinity and take appropriate remedial action at catchment level.

Today, there is greater understanding and acceptance of the need to change those practices that have the potential to cause dryland salinity.

The challenge for governments and the community now is to come up with new models for achieving long-term environmental sustainability and economic security by building on the knowledge, skills and technology that currently exist and continuing to foster partnerships involving government, industry and the community.