The Hon. Warren Truss MP
Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Senator, the Hon. Robert Hill
Minister for Environment and Heritage
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Dear Ministers
I have pleasure in presenting to you Australian Dryland Salinity Assessment 2000 a report of the National Land and Water Resources Audit (Audit).
This report is Australia's most comprehensive national assessment of dryland salinity and sets the context for tackling Australia's dryland salinity management issues. In partnership with the States and Territories, it collates and provides information on the distribution and impacts of dryland salinity.
The report promotes a catchment water balance approach for salinity management. It details a groundwater-based hydrogeological framework as the basis for planning, monitoring and evaluation of salinity management responses. The report concludes with information on salinity management options based on an understanding of the response-characteristics of Australia's groundwater systems.
Information on dryland salinity is being integrated with outputs from across the Audit to provide a comprehensive basis for natural resources management, supporting decisions at national, State and regional levels. This is achieved through the Audit's Internet-based Australian Natural Resources Atlas (Atlas), presenting information from across Australia at the best available scales.
The Audit Advisory Council believes this report and supporting information on the Atlas provides a key input to the development and implementation of the Council of Australian Governments' National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality and looks forward to being able to continue to contribute to this and related natural resource management initiatives.
I am pleased to commend this report to the Natural Heritage Ministerial Board.
Yours sincerely
Roy Green
Chair
National Land and Water Resources Audit Advisory Council
15 January 2001
PREFACE
This report is Australia's most comprehensive national assessment of dryland salinity. It provides a context for considering the dryland salinity management issues facing Australia. In collaboration with the States and Territories, it has provided information on the distribution and impacts of dryland salinity at a regional scale, and has identified a number of significant information and method limitations in our ability to evaluate the exact extent of the problem and the likely effectiveness of management interventions.
This report promotes a catchment water balance approach for salinity management. It proposes the adoption of a hydrogeological framework based on groundwater flow system characteristics to underpin planning, monitoring and evaluation of management responses.
Information on dryland salinity is being integrated with outputs from other themes in the National Land and Water Resources Audit (Audit) to provide a comprehensive base to support decisions at national and State levels. The economic aspects of dryland salinity will be reported as part of an integrated economic assessment of Australia's natural resources, their condition and management needs in the Capacity for Change theme report.
Focus on dryland salinity as a serious natural resource management issue in Australia has been building over the last decade through the activities of State governments and research including the National Dryland Salinity Program. This culminated in the Prime Minister's National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality that was endorsed by the Council of Australian Governments in November 2000. Outputs from the Audit's salinity program have assisted and will continue to assist in developing targeted national responses to dryland salinity. This report builds upon, complements and strengthens the range of assessments and directions documented within State strategies and national programs.
The Audit's dryland salinity activities have been undertaken as a component of the National Dryland Salinity Program, and relied heavily on the processes and networks established through that program.
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