Lake Hume Land and On-Water Management Plan: Establishing the Social/Community and Economic Context

"March 2006".

Project Number: Lake Hume land and on water management plan existing the social community and economic context M/BUS/55 - HU93a & DB099.

MDFRC item.

A report prepared on behalf of MDFRC for Goulburn-Murray Water by La Trobe University.

The potential for conflict over the management of water storages has prompted some agencies to embark on significant consultation exercises to both test the preferences of the wider community and inform the citizenry of potential changes. In this context, Goulburn-Murray Water (GMW), the NSW Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources (DIPNR) and the Murray-Darling Basin Commission (MDBC) released an Issues Summary Paper as part of the development of a land an on-water management plan for Lake Hume in January 2005. Managing the complex and often contradictory ways people value and use water requires an understanding of economic and social/community dimensions. This in turn requires an understanding of the relationships between: economic valuations; social values; community dynamics; natural resource management approaches; and political processes. The specific application of this to water in turn recognises water as: a public and private good; encompassing issues of scale and spatial issues; encompassing a complex relationship between self-interest and rationality; making a significant contribution to individual and community identity.