Water ethics, justice, and equity in social-ecological systems conservation: lessons from the Queensland Wild Rivers Act

Abstract

The protection of natural rivers and watersheds face important concerns related to environmental (in)justice and (in)equity. Using the Queensland Wild Rivers Act as a case study, we advocate that ethical water governance attends to multiple and diverse values, specifically in ways that: (i) locate them within stakeholders' claims of inequality that emerge from a given or practiced water ethic; and (ii) historicize and understand them as resonating or reflecting natural resource management frameworks that have led to structural injustices. This approach, combined with adaptive co-governance, can contribute to more inclusive water ethics and even support reflexive spaces where radical change in social-ecological resource governance can be imagined.

Global Analysis of Durable Policies for Free-Flowing River Protections

“…In Australia, the national Wild Rivers Act of 2005 failed to pass. To ensure the free-flowing nature of significant rivers, regional governments took matters into their own hands creating the Queensland Wild Rivers Act, the Franklin and Gordon "wild rivers" in Tasmania, [127,128]. In the case of the Queensland Wild Rivers Act, however, it was overturned due to environmental injustices concerning Indigenous peoples coupled with development interests [128].…”

“…To ensure the free-flowing nature of significant rivers, regional governments took matters into their own hands creating the Queensland Wild Rivers Act, the Franklin and Gordon "wild rivers" in Tasmania, [127,128]. In the case of the Queensland Wild Rivers Act, however, it was overturned due to environmental injustices concerning Indigenous peoples coupled with development interests [128]. These cases make clear that it is possible to build on or circumvent national legislation in favor of state or provincial protections of free-flowing rivers if necessary to provide vital protections.…”

Re-Theorizing Politics in Water Governance

“…From such scholarship, a broader understanding of what governance might entail is brought into view, often contrasting with a narrow managerial perspective on how to "better" govern water [1]. These provocative entry points invite attention not only to the uneven distribution and access to water for humans and non-humans, but also highlight the wider governing ethics, arrangements, histories, and political-economic systems that give rise to, sustain, and reinforce such patterns (e.g., [20,[24][25][26][27][28]).…”