World Fisheries Day is celebrated every year on 21 November throughout the world. Fishing communities celebrate this day through rallies, workshops, public meetings, cultural programs, dramas, exhibition, music show, and demonstrations to highlight the importance of maintaining the world’s fisheries. A recent United Nations study reported that more than two-thirds of the world’s fisheries have been overfished or are fully harvested and more than one third are in a state of decline because of factors such as the loss of essential fish habitats, pollution, and global warming.
In May 2009 the Australian Government announced up to $77.4 million of funding for the Hawkesbury Nepean River Recovery Program (HNRRP), and I commenced work as Program Manager in June 2009. After just over two years of very intensive activity the HNRRP came to an end in September 2011, having successfully delivered its intended outcomes on time and under budget. The HNRRP has improved river health by making more water available for environmental flows and reducing nutrient inputs to the river system.
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After just over two years of very intensive activity, the Hawkesbury-Nepean River Recovery Program (HNRRP) is coming to an end, having successfully delivered its intended outcomes on time and under budget. The final edition of HNRRP e-news reflects on some of the major achievements from the seven HNRRP projects and celebrates the great work that has been done to improve the health of the Hawkesbury-Nepean catchment. The Hawkesbury-Nepean river system frames the western edge of the Sydney Basin and is one of New South Wales’ most important natural assets.
Attended by leading scientists, community groups, government agencies and corporate leaders from over 25 nations, the 14th International Riversymposium will explore the multiple reasons that rivers are valuable ranging from economics through to cultural and spiritual values. This year’s program will have a strong focus on the management and recovery of our rivers and waterways, in accordance with the overall theme, The Value of Rivers.
The UK-based Urban River Corridors and Sustainable Living Agendas (URSULA) project is tackling river corridor issues holistically by treating the river and its urban setting as a system. Throughout the project, URSULA is developing innovations, tools and knowledge to help guide the regeneration of urban river corridors worldwide.
The last edition of HNRRP e-news discussed how the Hawkesbury-Nepean River Recovery Program is meeting one of its key objectives – the prevention of an estimated 48.2 tonnes of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) entering the Hawkesbury-Nepean river system each year. In the June 2011 edition of HNRRP e-news we look at our other key objective – securing 7.24 gigalitres (billion litres) per year for additional environmental flows in the Hawkesbury-Nepean river system. You can also read about the HNRRP projects and how they are progressing as the program nears completion.
The CCS seminar: The Social Life of Pesticides: the Future of Urban Agriculture and Biodiversity in the Hawkesbury-Nepean River addresses the ‘social life’ of pesticides in the Hawkesbury region at Sydney’s western fringe, where land use is dominated by small-scale horticulture. The seminar will report on a cross-disciplinary effort, involving researchers working in toxicology, environmental science, social science, design and applied sustainability research, to come to grips with the state of knowledge of the condition of the Hawkesbury-Nepean River and the social causes of its chemicalisation. All interested parties are invited to join in discussing possible avenues for reform such that the ecological resilience of the Sydney basin can be enhanced and the contribution of peri-urban farming communities to our way of life can be appropriately recognised and supported.
The coincidence of the Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry and Information Awareness Month offers the opportunity to explore how well our urban communities are using information and knowledge in regard to natural disasters. In early January this year the media carried horrific images and stories of the loss of life and damage caused by flooding in the southern Queensland towns of Toowoomba and Grantham and in the cities of Brisbane and Ipswich. Surprise was expressed at how such severe events could have happened. But the reality is that these floods have their predecessors, as explored in the article Queensland floods: information, history and knowledge.