Download Climate change adaptation and Australia`s water

Climate change adaptation and Australia's
water resources and freshwater biodiversity
Stuart Bunn (Convenor)
([email protected])
Brendan Edgar (Coordinator)
([email protected])
Outline
Context – freshwater biodiversity
Direct climate change threats
• Rising temperature
• Rising sea level
• Changing rainfall and flow regimes
Climate change in context
• Climate vs direct impacts of humans on freshwater
resources
National Climate Change Adaptation Facility
Freshwater biodiversity
• Surface freshwater habitats contain only around 0.01% of the
world’s water and cover only about 0.8% of the Earth’s surface
• Yet supports 9.5% of all described animal species (~40% of fish
diversity and 30% vertebrate diversity)
Trends in biodiversity: 1970-2000
Population declines in
freshwater are twice that of
terrestrial and marine
systems
Anthropocene for
freshwater ?
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005
• 10,000-20,000 freshwater species are extinct
or imperiled
• In intensively developed regions, more than
one-third of the species in some freshwater
taxa are threatened
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005
Freshwater biodiversity
BC Sturgeon
“Goddess of the Yangtze” (Baiji )
Mekong catfish
Qld Lungfish
Mary River Turtle
Australia’s freshwater biodiversity
• Many faunal groups are more diverse in
Australia than elsewhere (e.g. galaxiid
fish, parastacid crayfish, phreatoicid
isopods)
• Highly diverse stygofauna
• Fish fauna is relatively depauperate
(~200 spp) though shows a high degree
of endemism
• Biota include relicts of Pangaean and
Gondwanan origin (e.g. syncarid
shrimps, petalurid dragonflies, lungfish,
salamander fish)
Temperature
CSIRO (2007). Climate change in Australia
Rising stream temperatures
Spiny crayfish Euastacus
• unique endemics
• intolerant of high temperatures
• tops of mountains in mesic
rainforests
• ‘mesothermal island
archipelago’
Distribution of Queensland Euastacus
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
m 10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
1300
E. robertsi
E. fleckeri
E. balanensis
E. yigara
E. bindal
E. eungella
E. monteithorium
E. hystricosus
E. urospinosus
E. setosus
E. jagara
E. suttoni
E. sulcatus
E. maidae
mE. valentulus
E. robertsi
1370
1.
Cairns
2.
(>1000 m)
E. fleckeri
E. balanensis
1580 m
3.
800
600
400
200
4
3
2
1
E. eungella
Mackay
5.
oC
E. bindal
Townsville
4.
m
1340 m
6.
1280 m
E. monteithorum
Gladstone
N
(>750 m)
7.
940 m
Queensland
8.
9.
Brisbane
800 m
E. urospinosus
E. hystricosus
E. setosus
10.
680 m
13.
11.
14.
M.Ponniah (2003)
12.
(>500 m)
15.
1100 m
E. sulcatus
(>250 m)
Stream-dwelling rainforest frogs
… similar fate?
Torrent Tree Frog
Litoria nannotis
Photo R.Alford
Lace-eyed tree frog
Nyctimystes dayi
Photo H. Cogger
Northern Tinkerfrog
Taudactylus rheophilus
Rising seas - coastal wetlands
Many of northern Australia’s freshwater lagoons are low-lying
(0.2–1.2 m above MHWL) and vulnerable to projected sea-level
rises of 10 – 30 cms
Lowry & Knox (in prep).
• Expansion of tidal channel networks
• Increased storm surge
Changing rainfall patterns
Reduction in stream flows
e.g. Flow scenarios in the Macquarie River:
• 3–10% lower rainfall by 2030, 3–10% higher evaporation and 11–32%
reduction in MAR into the Marshes by 2030
• likely to result in a reduction of semi-permanent and ephemeral wetland
vegetation by 20-40%
• similar reductions (up to 30%
MAR) predicted for other MDB
rivers (e.g. Ovens, Goulburn)
• Environment does not
have same security of
water entitlement as
consumptive users
Dryland rivers - water holes
Refugia for aquatic biota
Waterhole persistence
•
Long dry spells with little
local rainfall
•
High evaporation (2-3m),
Shallow (often <2 m)
•
Topped up by surface flow
- no groundwater inputs
GL/day
400
300
200
21 months – longest spell
100
1950
1951
1952
Hamilton et al. (2005) L&O 50,
743-54.
1953
Dry spell < 2 years
~ 40 waterholes
Australia’s freshwater biodiversity in a
future climate?
• Loss of some endemics – even under conservative temperature scenarios
(e.g. mountain islands)
• Losses of freshwater wetlands and associated biota - rising sea levels (tidal
intrusion + storm surge)
• Changing flow regimes (drier and more variable; higher evaporation?) increased pressure on refugia
• Direct effects of humans on rivers will be more significant in the short
term – urban expansion and increased agricultural demand for water.
• Climate variability – compound this further as we attempt to drought
proof our cities.
Adaptation challenge:
How do we meet these growing demands
without causing further declines in
biodiversity and ecosystem health?
Water & climate news
Countryman; 16/07/2009
Sunday Mail Adelaide
Australian
Courier Mail
04-Dec-2009
15-Nov-2009
16-Nov-2009
Sunday Age; 19/07/2009
Adelaide Advertiser;
16/07/2009
Age; 20/07/2009
Sunraysia Daily; 16/07/2009
Sunday Mail Adelaide; 19/07/2009
Sunraysia Daily; 15/07/2009
Australian; 16/07/2009
Australian Journal Of Mining; 01/08/2009
OECD study on agricultural water use
• Irrigated area not likely to
increase very much over coming
decades
• Major new irrigation infrastructure
development unlikely (i.e.
financial and physical limits)
• Potential for agriculture to use
recycled and desalinated water
marginal and costly
• High priority to improve
productivity of existing irrigation
system, and raise the water
productivity of rain-fed agricultural
systems.
Megalitres per hectare of irrigated land
1990-92
14
12
2001-03
% change
-3%
1900-92 to 2001-03
-10%
10 -50%
8
1995-97
-12%
na
+69%
-19%
+7%
6
4
2
0
Australia
Spain
United
States
Mexico
Turkey
Greece
Portugal
Italy
Calls to ‘drought-proof’ our cities
In the face of growing population and
greater variability and uncertainty in
rainfall and runoff:
Southern ‘pipe’ dreams
South East Queensland water grid
Mary River
•
•
•
•
•
new dams
Desalination
Potable re-use
interbasin transfers
little discussion of
environmental flow
provisions
Threatened freshwater species
Photo: Scott Lamond
NCCARF Water network
Climate Change Adaptation
Research Facility
Water Resources & Freshwater Biodiversity Network
Hosted by Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University
Regional nodes
Governance
Water Resources
Freshwater
biodiversity
Climate scenarios
WA
Murdoch U
SA
Adelaide U
Vic
UniWater
Tas
U Tasmania
ACT
Capital-WATER
NSW
Newcastle U
Qld
Griffith U
NT
Charles Darwin U
Adaptation themes
Node Host
Partners
Current - research
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Griffith University
University of Adelaide
Australian National University
Charles Darwin University
CSIRO
James Cook University
MDFRC/LaTrobe
Melbourne University
Monash University
Murdoch University
Museum of Victoria
NRETA
Through nodes
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NSW Dept Climate Change
Qld University of Technology
SAWater
SARDI
University of Canberra
University of Newcastle
University of New South Wales
University of Southern Qld
University of Tasmania
University of Technology Sydney
University of Western Australia
UniWater
State and Territory natural resource management agencies
Local Government
Catchment management authorities
Industry
 Representative bodies
 Agriculture, mining, consulting firms
Network themes
Climate Scenarios
•
develop scenarios of likely climate change and its implications for freshwater
biodiversity and water resources
Governance
•
inform development of water allocation and market arrangements that support
adaptation to climate change
Water Resources
•
inform policies and management practices for interception activities (including farms
dams, plantation forestry) and the joint management of surface and groundwater
Freshwater Biodiversity
•
inform adaptive management of environmental flows and other mitigation strategies to
protect freshwater biodiversity and maintain aquatic ecosystem health
Capacity Building
•
building the capability of science and management to coordinate and deliver adaptive
management responses
Links with other networks
Water Resources and
Freshwater Biodiversity
Network
Settlements and
Infrastructure
Theme
Climate scenarios
Water security desalination, PRW
stormwater quantity
Governance
Water Resources
Capacity Building
Terrestrial biodiversity
- Links to wetlands and
groundwater dependent
ecosystems
Freshwater biodiversity
Crop water use
efficiency
Primary industries
Theme
Terrestrial Biodiversity
Theme
Estuarine ecosystems
- environmental flows,
wastewater management
Water-borne disease
Human health
Theme
Marine Biodiversity
and Resources Theme
Current network activities
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Coordinating research proposals (NARP)
Synthesis papers/ fact sheets on Themes and Issues
Scholarships/bursaries
Network communication and workshops
Network expansion – jurisdictions
Questions?
Climate Scenarios
• Downscaling climate models
• Modelling extreme events
• Understanding past and present hydro-climate
• Vegetation/ water relationships
Water Resources
• Integrated hydrologic modelling
• Energy/ food/ supply-demand
• Coastal vulnerability
• Groundwater/ surface water management
Governance
• Institutional and legal Structures
• Water pricing and markets
• Water planning
• Regional planning
Freshwater Biodiversity
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Species distribution and climate relationships
Flow and habitat management
Refugia and reserve design
Fragmentation and barriers
Capacity Building
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Professional capability
Science communication
Institutional Capacity
Research opportunities