AWS Director George Wilson and Graham Webb of Wildlife Management International Pty Ltd led a working group that prepared a paper on Science and Research for northern Australia. The paper was prepared as input to the Australia 21 Project on the Future Development of Northern Australia.
The need for the paper came out of high level dialogue convened by Australia 21 in April 09, when 37 experts from industry, government, and academia, both from the North and the South and from the three jurisdictions that administer the North, met to explore the principles that should guide future development of the North in the interest of all Australians.
The group endorsed 6 principles it believed should guide future development of the North and could underpin a coordinated new strategy for development of the North.
The paper explores the fourth of these principles, that “planning and management for Northern development should be well informed by science and research and by an inventory of what is valuable with respect to the natural resources of Northern Australia”.
The paper was submitted to the Northern Australia Land and Water Taskforce call for submissions in September 2009. The Taskforce is considering the broad range of sustainable development opportunities for northern Australia that are based on water resource availability. It is also considering the potential impact of such development on the underlying water balance and water quality, and on the natural environment, existing water users and the broader community.