(1) Is the Murray Darling Basin Commission undertaking a study into the long-term future of dry land agricultural land use in the Murray Darling Basin.

(2) (a) What are the terms of reference for the study; (b) who is undertaking the study; (c) when did work on the study commence; and (d) what is the scheduled completion date.

(3) If the project is being carried out in a number of stages: (a) what is the time frame applying to each stage; (b) what is the nature of the work to be carried out in each stage; and (c) can a copy of any interim papers related to this project, prepared by the commission, or on behalf of the commission be provided.

(1) Yes, the Murray Darling Basin Commission has commissioned the Landmark research project (also known as the Sustainable Land Use project) which aims to develop methods to test the sustainability of current recommended management practices for dryland agriculture. Economic, social and environmental considerations will be used to measure the long-term viability of these practices to achieve sustainability. Policy-makers, collaborating with industry and community, will use the results of Landmark to help develop strategies for addressing the critical sustainability issues facing the Murray-Darling Basin. An important tool developed from the project will be the ability to map areas of different land use and to monitor the progressive change in land use practices over time.

The Landmark project consists of a number of sub-projects or 'tasks' aimed at:

Facilitating industry and community input to Landmark and communicating project results (Task 1)

Describing current recommended management practices for dryland agriculture in the Murray-Darling Basin (Task 2)

Examining whether current recommended practices are sustainable in the long term (Task 3)

Developing recommendations about which areas of the Basin are most likely to require assistance to improve the long term sustainability of dryland farming activities (Task 4)

Analysing the impact of government policies on dryland agriculture and the need for changes to promote more sustainable land use (Task 5) and

Developing cost effective methods to map land use change and to measure changes in management practices to assess whether long term economic and environmental goals are being achieved (Task 6).

(2)—

(a) Each sub-project or task has its own terms of reference. These are outlined at Attachment A.

(b) Details on the consultants performing each of the sub-projects under the Landmark project are outlined in the table below:

(c) The sub-projects commenced as set out in the table below:

(d) The sub-projects are scheduled for completion as set out in the table below:

(3)—

(a) Tables 2(c) & (d) above provide the details on the timeframes applying to each sub-project.

(b) The first phase of the sub-projects involved scoping studies, which for all sub-projects (except Tasks 4 and 5) are now complete. The second stage involves implementation work which is outlined at Attachment A.

(c) A copy of interim papers related to this project, excluding any commercially sensitive portions, can be obtained direct from the Murray-Darling Basin Commission.

Attachment A

Task 1—Industry, Community and Government Participation

Facilitate awareness and understanding of the project, and ownership of its outputs. Coordinate communication across Tasks and from project as a whole.

Main tasks:

• Identify key stakeholders

• Identify key messages and acceptance of need for change

• Facilitate ownership of project outputs and proposed future directions

• National Conference

• Evaluate communication across all Tasks

• Convene meetings of Project Reference Panel

• Undertake communication as directed by the Project Management Committee

Task 2—Identifying Best Management Practices (BMP) Systems for Key

Broadacre Land Uses

Map spatial distribution of key broadacre dryland land uses and to document industry-endorsed BMP systems for those land uses.

Main tasks:

• Identify broadacre land uses which are most common and cover extensive areas of dryland regions

• Identify bioregions and indicate the distribution of the broadacre land uses within those bioregions

• Document existing industry-endorsed BMP systems (covering economic, environmental and social parameters) for each land use in each bioregion

• Analyse the extent to which there is consensus about whether existing BMP systems are accepted as best management

• Estimate the extent and history of uptake of BMP systems for each land use

Task 3—Testing BMP Systems for Long Term Sustainability

Test BMP systems against economic, environmental and social parameters

Develop a method for mapping probability of where BMP systems will lead to long sustainability, where they won't, and where it is not possible to say.

Main tasks:

• Identify a range of sustainability indicators for each sustainability parameter

• Define threshold levels or ranges for each sustainability parameter

• Assess the degree to which implementation of BMP systems for each land use in each bioregion is likely to meet or exceed the threshold level or range for each indicator

• Aggregate the results for each indicator up to parameter level to develop sustainability risk ratings for each of the parameters

• Aggregate across the three parameters and assess trade-offs between parameters to develop sustainability probabilities (eg a BMP system may deliver high probability of economic and environmental sustainability, but low probability of social sustainability - trade-offs are transparent)

• Trial the method in a pilot region to enhance its utility for application (in Task 4) across priority dryland regions in MDB

Task 4—Mapping the Probability of Achieving Sustainable Land Use with High Rates of Adoption of BMP Systems

Apply the method developed under Task 3 across dryland regions of the Basin to produce a Basin map of the three scenarios.

Main tasks:

• Map the probability of key broadacre land uses achieving long-term sustainability with high rates of adoption of BMP systems - three possibilities, depending upon trade-offs across the three parameters:

• strong likelihood of being unsustainable due to unacceptably low probabilities for two or more parameters

• strong likelihood of being sustainable due to high probabilities for two or more parameters

• difficult to judge due to counterbalancing probabilities or weakness in data and methods

• Report on bioregions and land uses where:

• it is appropriate to continue with policies and programs to accelerate industry adoption of BMP systems

• it is appropriate to develop policies and programs to facilitate land use change (in concert with regional development)

• it is appropriate to conduct further investigations on probability of achieving long term sustainable land use

Task 5—Sustainable Land Use Policy Analysis and Development

Develop policy options to change land use where existing uses won't be sustainable, and to encourage high rates of adoption of BMP systems for existing uses where they are likely to be sustainable.

Main tasks:

• Preferable to use outputs of Task 4 to focus on analysis of impediments to sustainable land use and sustainable rural communities, particularly the dominating influence of agribusiness and macroeconomic and trade policy, and to pursue public support for

• development of "true blue" production systems for bulk and niche commodities which meet the eco-hydrological limitations of the OZ environment

• new industries based on native plants and animals which can be internationally competitive

• introduction of bioregional scale compensatory measures to protect social and environmental values (similar to measures under European CAP and under our GST)

• But Commission may settle for soft option of "stand alone" natural resource management policies and programs (possibly not even linked to regional development policy) which may only achieve incremental gains

• This work will be another test for the Commission's level of commitment to serious policy development and resourcing of ICM and the Initiative

Task 6—Developing Methods to Cost Effectively Map and Monitor Land Use Change and Uptake of BMP Systems

Develop cost effective and repeatable methods for mapping and monitoring land use change and uptake of BMP systems to evaluate progress towards matching land use with land capability.

Main tasks:

• Develop and trial repeatable (at 5-10 year intervals) and cost effective methods for baseline mapping of dryland land uses and monitoring of land use changes at the bioregional scale in the MDB

• Establish and institutionalise methods for data collection on dryland land management practices as a basis for monitoring the uptake of BMP systems.