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Uncertainties in the Australian Water Availability Risk Assignment Framework: Implications for Environmental Water Reserve Managers
Author(s) -
Bevacqua John
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
economic papers: a journal of applied economics and policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.245
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1759-3441
pISSN - 0812-0439
DOI - 10.1111/j.1759-3441.2011.00099.x
Subject(s) - entitlement (fair division) , abandonment (legal) , liability , legislature , water right , business , environmental planning , environmental resource management , natural resource economics , water resources , economics , finance , environmental science , political science , ecology , mathematical economics , law , biology
This article demonstrates that the current Australian approach to allocating risk associated with policies for recovering water for the environmental water reserve is unworkable. It reveals the legal uncertainties the current approach creates for policy‐makers, water entitlement holders and for judges in seeking to resolve disputes between stakeholders, particularly disputes over liability for economic adjustment costs. It ultimately calls for an abandonment of the current approach and legislative attention to correct the inherent uncertainties and ensure that authorities charged with managing the environmental water reserve can do so with the ongoing support and cooperation of irrigators and Murray–Darling Basin communities.