Adapting to climate change: A risk assessment and decision making framework for managing groundwater dependent ecosystems with declining water levels. Development and case studies
Authors
Jane Chambers
Gaia Nugent
Beate Sommer, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Peter Speldewinde
Simon Neville
Stephen Beatty
Stacey Chilcott
Stefan Eberhard
Nicola Mitchell
Frances D'Souza
Olga Barron
Don McFarlane
Michael Braimbridge
Belinda Robson
Paul Close
David Morgan
Adrian Pinder
Raymond H. Froend, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Pierre Horwitz, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Barbara Cook
Peter Davies
Document Type
Book
Publisher
National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility
Faculty
Faculty of Health, Engineering and Science
School
School of Natural Sciences / Centre for Ecosystem Management
RAS ID
16904
Abstract
The objective of this research was to develop and test a risk assessment and decision-making framework for managing groundwater dependent ecosystems (GDEs) with declining water levels due to climate change, anthropogenic extraction, land use and land management. The framework was developed by a multidisciplinary team of ecologists, modellers and hydrogeologists in south-western Australia, a biodiversity hotspot that has already suffered three decades of below average rainfall and consequently declining groundwater levels due to increased groundwater abstraction and land use change. This has provided a ‘living experiment’ providing validation of the framework against observed changes (not just modelled projections). The combination of this research together with input from a suite of end-users, other scientists and experts from across Australia has provided a robust and adaptable framework.
Comments
Chambers, J., Nugent, G., Sommer, B. , Speldewinde, P., Neville, S., Beatty, S., Chilcott, S., Eberhard, S., Mitchell, N., D'Souza, F., Barron, O., McFarlane, D., Braimbridge, M., Robson, B., Close, P., Morgan, D., Pinder, A., Froend, R. H., Horwitz, P. , Cook, B., & Davies, P. (2013). Adapting to climate change: A risk assessment and decision making framework for managing groundwater dependent ecosystems with declining water levels. Development and Case Studies. Gold Coast, Australia: National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility. Original book available here