The Australian Conservation Foundation and Environment Victoria wish to comment on the social, economic and environmental impacts of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan on regional communities.
A healthy Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) is critical to the prosperity of all those who depend on it. The basin’s wetlands – 16 of which are recognised as being internationally significant – provide up to $2.1 billion of benefits per annum, through ecosystem services such as water filtration, flood mitigation, pollination and more1. Successful implementation of the Basin Plan is vitally important to Australia. Combined with the many river health initiatives that pre-date it the Basin Plan is essential to redressing the damage done to rivers, wetlands and floodplains through decades of unsustainable water extraction.
