The NSW Government has announced the start of new environmental flows for the Hawkesbury-Nepean River following the completion of a $39 million upgrade to dams and weirs across the system.
NSW Minister for Water, Phil Costa said the new environmental flows were a major investment in one of Sydney’s most important river systems and a key part of the NSW Government’s Metropolitan Water Plan to secure water for people and the environment.
“Overall the new environmental flow rules will see a tenfold increase in the amount of water released to restore the health of one of Sydney’s most iconic waterways,“ Minister Costa said.
To find out more read the NSW Government media release.
Full and partial-tuition scholarships are now available for Australian and international students to study International WaterCentre’s Master of Integrated Water Management (Australia)
- Full tuition scholarships – AU$39,960
- Partial tuition scholarships
- Scholarships open May 1 – August 1
The program equips students with the integration, leadership and managerial skills to become part of an elite group of water leaders with sustainable and holistic solutions to global water and climate change challenges. The Master of Integrated Water Management is custom-designed and taught by leading practitioners and academics from a range of disciplines from International WaterCentre (IWC) member universities. For more information click here.
There is so much talk of ‘information overload’ in our society. Are we really overloaded or are we over-consuming? I have been hearing about this concept for so many years now and I was fascinated by this blog posting by Clay Johnson which I fell across this week. Clay’s argument is that we are over-consuming information just the way we over-consume food. It is in our power to control this over-consumption.
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Last week I attended Dave Snowden’s Making Sense of Complexity workshop and, over the next few weeks, I am going to share with you a few of the ‘gems’ I learnt through the experience.
The first of these is about the need to differentiate between people who cook using a recipe book, and chefs, who are able to use whatever ingredients are available at any time, to make a meal. Following a recipe book provides the user with the security of knowing they will get a defined outcome, but it does not allow for creativity, spontaneity and an ability to respond in the moment. A chef creates something in the present, mixing, tasting and modifying as they go along.
In natural resources management I believe we tend to follow recipe books in an attempt to make sure we tick all the right boxes to achieve a set ‘target’. While there is nothing wrong with this, I think it is important to use the recipe book as a guide only, the means to an end, but not the end in itself. Allow yourself the freedom to adapt, reflect and experiment along the way, as this unleashes our creativity and enables us to get even greater personal and professional rewards along the way. For more on complexity theory, click here.
Siwan
On the land and in country towns, the battle to survive goes on forever. Increasingly, the world needs food and fibre, but squeezes out the communities which provide them. Young people leave, farmers sell up, towns die, football teams amalgamate, communities keep reinventing themselves.
What’s going on? What can we do?
Neil Barr looks close up, and he looks at the big picture. What affects real people on the land affects everybody.
This is the second of our book summaries/reviews. Neil Barr, the author, was funded by Land & Water Australia (LWA) to write this book and it has got to be one of the best publications LWA produced (in my opinion as a non scientist)
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News | Bruce Boyes | 
9 July 2010 9:05 am | 
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