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Environment Minister Marion Scrymgour today announced the Daly River Management Advisory Committee (DRMAC).

The Committee will work with government agencies to develop options for the sustainable use and conservation of natural resources within the Daly River region.

The inaugural meeting of the Committee is being held today in Darwin.

“The goal of the Committee will be to promote the highest standards of management of land, water and other resources in the region so that important values identified by residents and the wider community are protected,” Ms Scrymgour said.

“The Committee will build on the work of the Daly River Community Reference Group (CRG), in particular following up on the CRG’s recommendation to use an adaptive management approach to the Daly.

Ms Scrymgour said the immediate task for the Committee will be to advise on the development of a new adaptive management decision-making framework which can be used to balance the needs of development and conservation in the region.

Adaptive management entails:

• Putting in place monitoring systems – designed from the outset to measure changes in the values of the Daly that we all want to see protected;
• Establishing flexible arrangements for using the Daly’s natural resources;
• Taking small and potentially reversible steps in the use of the Daly’s natural resources to test whether adverse changes occur; and
• Using the knowledge gained to adjust the use of natural resources in the Daly.

”When implemented, adaptive management will allow development on the Daly to move cautiously forward, while all the time checking to ensure that the environment is healthy,” Ms Scrymgour said.

”Adaptive management is about balancing the risks to our environment in a controlled and measured way, recognising that we will never have perfect information to base decisions on and acknowledging that the risks don’t go away by simply doing nothing.”

The Daly River Aboriginal Reference Group will assist the Committee in their work and ensure the values of traditional owners and others with customary obligations in the region are considered.

”The Committee will also, as a priority, develop further mechanisms to ensure that stakeholder groups and the broader community are effectively engaged in the adaptive management process.”

Ms Scrymgour said the work of the Committee forms the first part of the rollout of the Government’s Living Rivers program.

”New funding of $3.5 million over four years has been approved to implement the adaptive management framework. Much of this will be used to substantially upgrade our knowledge of and monitoring capacity for water resources.

”Together with $800 000 in Federal funding, this investment will ensure improved metering of water extraction, better monitoring of river flows and improved modelling of the Daly ground and surface waters, so that future decisions on water extraction meet the high standards of sustainability.”

Committee Role	Committee Member	Nominating Organisation
Chair	Mr John Childs	Nominated by Minister
Non-Indigenous Landowner	Mr Dan Thomson Northern	Territory Cattlemen’s Association
Non-Indigenous Landowner	To be confirmed	Northern Territory Horticultural Association
Tourism	Mr Gary Higgins	Katherine Region Tourism Association
Indigenous Landowner	Ms Mona Liddy	Daly River Aboriginal Reference Group
Indigenous Landowner	Mr William Hewitt	Daly River Aboriginal Reference Group
Recreation / Fishing	Mr Warren de With	Amateur Fishermen’s Association of the NT
Conservation	Mr Stuart Blanch	Environment Centre of the NT
Government Primary Industries	Mr Bruce Sawyer	Dept Primary Industries, Fisheries and Mines
Government Regional Development Planner	Ms Linda Fazldeen	Dept Business, Economic and Regional Development
Government Water Manager	Mr Ian Lancaster	Dept Natural Resources, Environment and the Arts
Government Conservation and Recreation Manager	Mr John de Koning	Dept Natural Resources, Environment and the Arts
Government Land Use Planner	Mr Mark Meldrum	Department of Planning and Infrastructure