Water Policy Reform - Lessons in Sustainability from the Murray-Darling Basin

Agriculture in the Murray Darling Basin of Australia represents a controversial 'policy experiment' comprising large capital investments, innovation and enterprise over a 100 year period. This book, which contains contributions from some of Australia's foremost economic, social science and public policy researchers and writers, examines the evolution of public policy frameworks that transformed water management from initial exploitation for irrigation as a dominant single use to a dynamic multiple use resource system. Water Policy Reform provides both analytical insights and examples of successes and failures in developing water policy in a complex and politically contested environment. As such, this work attempts to develop a comprehensive management plan for the Basin and provides novel and invaluable lessons for an increasingly global problem. This well-researched study will interest both economists and those with public policy interest in academia and the public sector, including development agencies concerned with sustainable water resource management.