Part 2Content of this SWMOP

# Part 2 Content of this SWMOP Part 2 Content of this SWMOP Over the last ten years or so, a wide range of policies and inter-government agreements have been developed which set in place principles, standards and processes to ensure better management of the State’s water and related resources, promote rehabilitation of the State’s environmental and social assets, and realise higher returns on each megalitre of water extracted. This SWMOP is grounded in these existing policies but, consistent with the requirements of the Act, it establishes short term targets that will drive the intent of these policies in more specific and tangible ways. This SWMOP therefore sets both long term outcomes and 5 year management targets for water management. These are based on a principle of continuous improvement in the water-dependent environment and in the social and economic benefits the community receives from its water sources and their dependent ecosystems. To ensure improvement, management objectives and targets must be responsive and adaptive to improved knowledge and changing social and economic circumstances and values. It is therefore appropriate that the management planning is staged over five to ten year cycles. The SWMOP will therefore be reviewed in five years allowing the subsequent generation and review of management plans to respond to any new directions or priorities. The outcomes and targets identified in this SWMOP do not attempt to be exhaustive. Instead the focus is on those outcomes which reflect the highest priorities and/or are good indicators of overall improvement. Similarly the targets selected are those which are likely to achieve the greatest gains towards the outcomes in the short term. The targets do not therefore seek to establish an ultimate position or standard but rather to take a significant but practical step in the process of continuous improvement. Such steps will involve consultation with the community concerned and assessment of social and economic impacts. In a few cases this SWMOP sets what might be termed “enabling” targets. These typically require identification and assessment to be completed within the five years as an essential prerequisite for determining a more specific management outcome. This recognises that in these cases, action cannot be taken in the short term without such information. Where the information is locally available then action should commence earlier. The outcomes and targets span regulated river, unregulated river, groundwater, estuarine and coastal water sources. They are consistent with the Objects and provisions of Section 3 of the Act. In particular they: > • are in accord with the principles of ecologically sustainable development and will protect and/or restore water sources and their dependent ecosystems, > • seek to prevent declines and make improvements in the ecological health and productivity of water sources, > • promote recovery of threatened species and communities and the management of key threatening processes listed under the under the [Fisheries Management Act 1994](/view/html/inforce/current/act-1994-038) and the [Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995](/view/html/repealed/current/act-1995-101) (arising from the UN Biodiversity Convention), > • seek to protect and restore habitats, water sources, floodplains and dependent ecosystems, > • seek to protect and restore wetlands listed under the Ramsar Convention, and wetlands of national significance listed in the Directory of Australian Wetlands, > • seek to protect migratory waterbirds listed under the Convention on Migratory Species, and JAMBA and CAMBA agreements, > • seek to protect the Aboriginal customary and contemporary ties to water, > • seek to halt or reverse the decline in key water quality parameters, > • will foster social and economic benefits to the State, > • will foster benefits to Aboriginal people in relation to their spiritual, social customary and economic use of land and water, > • provide greater certainty and flexibility in the exercise of access rights, > • encourage water to move to higher value use, > • encourage water to be managed and used efficiently, and > • optimise the economic value of water diverted from water sources and encourage best practice in its use.