The first stages of Australian forest water regulation: National reform and regional implementation

Australia has recently become the second country behind the Republic of South Africa to regulate plantation forest water use. To date South Australia is the only jurisdiction to have enacted state-wide forest water legislation which was introduced in accord with national water reforms, but stemmed from a series of earlier regional initiatives initially prompted by water accounting issues and the concerns of existing water users regarding the ongoing security of their entitlements. National reforms were driven by the effects of drought, which also highlighted the potential impacts of plantation forestry on water availability over its benefits for water quality and managing dryland salinity. Competing policy agendas emerged at national and jurisdictional scales, leading to a misalignment between the objectives of initiatives and management responses in some South Australian regions. Different assessment methods were used to support different policy agendas, raising concerns among planners and eventually prompting amendments to regional planning frameworks to provide greater consistency in decision-making. The relationships finally adopted to underpin state-wide forest water regulation differ according to regional hydrology while their integrity reflects the effectiveness of management processes surrounding their development. Additional investigations will be required in some regions to augment the limited knowledge base and ensure assessment frameworks are able to properly account for the hydrological impacts of plantation forestry and manage risk. Continual critical review is required to ensure policy is based on reliable and robust evidence. A national research agenda in forest water management is required to underpin the implementation of national water reforms at regional scales.