Media Release
January 17 2008
Sharing SA's groundwater management expertise
UniSA
is hosting a group of high level academics and senior government
officials from developing Asian countries, here to study South
Australia’s leading groundwater management policies.
The visitors from Bangladesh, India, China, Pakistan and Nepal are in Adelaide as part of an International Water Management Institute (IWMI) exchange program that will take in visits to the Coorong, farms in the State’s South East and market gardens at Virginia.
Director of UniSA’s Centre for Comparative Water Policies and Laws, Professor Jennifer McKay, said the aim of the visit is to share information about current groundwater policy and practice in South Australia which is advanced by international standards.
“South Australia not only has the most coherent approach to water management in Australia,” Prof McKay said, “we also lead the way globally when it comes to groundwater management.
“Our policies govern the distribution of water in ways that require unique methods of accountability and effectiveness.
“It is tremendous that we are able to share these policies with countries that can use our experience to effect change in their own water policy and governance.”
The two-week visit will include presentations by leading UniSA water experts, representatives from the SA Department of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation and farmers in the South East who totally rely on groundwater.
Director of the IWMI in Delhi, Dr Bharat Sharma said the exchange program hopes build water management capacity in regions which source the crucial Indo-Gangetic and Yellow River Basins.
“The groundwater used for agriculture in these states is worth around US$20 billion per year,” Dr Sharma said, “and sustains an agricultural output of between US$50-64 billion annually.
“Around 50 per cent of the populations of these basin countries directly benefit from this output and with proper targeting, groundwater offers big opportunities for poverty reduction in many areas.”
This is the second time delegates from developing Asian countries have sought expertise from Australia’s experience, following an extremely successful first visit by delegates from India and Pakistan in late 2006.
Contact for interview
- Prof Jennifer McKay office (08) 8302 0887 mobile 0408 897 521 email jennifer.mckay@unisa.edu.au
Media contact
-
Vincent Ciccarello office (08) 8302 0578 mobile 0434 603 457 email
vincent.ciccarello@unisa.edu.au