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TRANSBOUNDARY WATER MANAGEMENTImage: National Water Commission, Arthur MosteadIndigenous engagementThe NWI is the first intergovernmental water agreementin Australia that explicitly recognizes the interestsof indigenous people in water management. Since2004 most Australian jurisdictions have establishedconsultative mechanisms intended to engage indigenouspeople in water planning, and there is increasedrecognition of the cultural values of water resources.In 2010 the National Water Commission brokered theformation of the First People’s Water Engagement Council.The group’s remit was to provide a vehicle for Aboriginalvoices and water aspirations to be heard.The council consulted widely with stakeholders and heldits first water summit in 2012. From these processes, thecouncil developed policy and advisory statements. Whenthe council ended its tenure in 2012, an Indigenous WaterAdvisory Council was formed to continue building on theFirst People’s Water Engagement Council’s initial work,taking on an even larger role as national adviser to thefederal government.The advisory council, along with other indigenousworking groups, indigenous community facilitationnetworks, and projects aimed at improving drinking waterand increasing research opportunities, will continue toprovide an important foundation for improving knowledgeand understanding of indigenous Australians’ waterrelatedcultural, social and economic aspirations.The NWI explicitly recognizes the interests of indigenous people in water managementhuman needs at risk – a position that shocked Australians. Thedrought not only highlighted the vulnerability of businesses andcommunities, it also demonstrated the implications of neglectingthe water needs of the environment.In 2000, a major national land and water audit found that almosta third of the continent’s surface and groundwater resources wereclose to being overused, or were overused compared to their estimatedsustainable flow regimes. 2The Council of Australian Governments again stepped in. In 2004,the council members signed off on the Intergovernmental Agreementon a National Water Initiative (NWI), which set out detailed commitmentsto improve institutional water sharing arrangements and toovercome some of the seemingly intractable differences between statesthat shared water resources. It established as an overarching goal theoptimization of economic, social and environmental outcomes.Under the NWI the Council of Australian Governments created anew body – the National Water Commission – to oversee implementationof the reform programme and to provide regular reviews.This type of institutionalized, regular review framework is unusualand has been instrumental in driving ongoing improvements in thedelivery of a truly national water reform agenda.The NWI comprises different types of commitments that togetherwill improve water management in Australia. There are state-specificcommitments and commitments applicable to groups of states, suchas water trading among the southern Murray-Darling Basin states.There are also commitments that can only be delivered throughcooperation by all states.Just as importantly, the NWI commits governments to genuinelyengage with people and groups affected by water managementchanges when developing water plans that balance the competingneeds and values of water users with the desired outcomes for theenvironment in particular water systems. This is beneficial becauseit makes decisions regarding water allocation and use transparent,and provides an opportunity for interested parties to bepart of the decision-making process.In the eight years since the NWI was signed, the agreementhas come to be recognized internationally as a modelfor sound water governance, for addressing the challengesof cross-jurisdictional management of shared resources,and for harnessing the power of markets and price signalsto encourage efficient water use and investment.In an assessment of Australia’s environmentalperformance since 1998, the Organisation forEconomic Co-operation and Development concludedthat the NWI, backed by significant governmentinvestment, was delivering real progress towardreform, including setting environmental flowregimes. 3 As the Australian State of the EnvironmentReport 2011 4 observed, “the past decade has been themost dynamic and significant in modern Australia’swater history. It has been a period of ambitious waterpolicy reform at the same time as the worst andlongest drought Australia has ever seen. There havealso been massive public and private investmentsin water infrastructure, significant new foundationsfor water knowledge at a national scale, and thewidespread acceptance by the public and by governmentsthat Australia’s climate has changed and willcontinue to change.”The Australian approach acknowledges that successfulreform requires cross-agency and cross-governmentcollaborative effort. Behind these concepts are cooperative,multilayered and evolving relationships; albeitrelationships underpinned by a sound legislative andaccountability framework that is supported by robustsystems and processes.[ 63 ]