Get reliable rangeland science

Sustainable regional development is a priority for all governments which have jurisdiction in northern Australia. The land and water resources of most of northern Australia's rangelands have not been mapped in sufficient detail to provide for reliable resource allocation, mitigate investment or environmental risks, or build policy settings that can support decisions about development. Since 2012 CSIRO has led large multi-disciplinary assessments across about 620,000 km2 of northern Australia. These assessments have considered; Indigenous rights, values, interests and development aspirations; climate drivers; surface water hyrdology; groundwater hydrology; ecological assets and impacts; soils and land suitability; surface water storage; and agricultural and socio-economic considerations. The assessments have included a combination of field data collection, desktop studies and modelling to provide a comprehensive analysis of the kinds of intensified water resource development which might be possible and the risks which would accompany those developments. The catchments studied are largely 'greenfield', i.e. potential development would occur on land which is not already within a matrix of existing water resource development or intensified agricultural production. The majority of the land is Indigenous held and/or is used for extensive beef cattle grazing on native pastures. The work has shown that there are considerable soil and water resources which could be developed, however these resources are not always found together and intensified production would only be economically viable under certain, often difficult to meet, conditions. Beyond financial considerations, there are many other issues which influence the extent to which development might occur. These relate to the social licence to develop water resources, to grow certain crops such as cotton, and to clear native vegetation-as well as regulatory and legislative conditions which reflect this social licence.