The use of replacement cost method to assess and manage the impacts of water resource development on...

Published in 2014 in the Journal of Environmental Management 135: 100-09

The use of replacement cost method to assess and manage the impacts

of water resource development on Australian indigenous customary

economies.

Sue Jackson1 , Marcus Finn2 and Kelly Scheepers3

1 Corresponding author

Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, PMB 44, Winnellie, NT 0822, Australia.

Present address: Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, Queensland 4111, Australia.

Telephone: +61 3 94865581

Email: [email protected]

2 Research Scientist, CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, PMB 44, Winnellie NT 0822, Australia

Present address: Environmental Consultant, Farrer, ACT 2607 , Australia [email protected]

3 Postdoctoral fellow, CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, PMB 44, Winnellie, NT 0822 ,Australia. Email: [email protected]

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mailto:[email protected]


Abstract

The value of functional and biologically diverse landscapes to

indigenous societies is increasingly recognised in public debates

about development pathways but rarely rigorously assessed in

development decisions. Using the replacement cost method, we

quantify the direct consumptive value of aquatic species and sites

for indigenous subsistence in three Australian tropical river

catchments where negligible data exists on indigenous water values

and the extensive use of wild resources for food, art, craft and

medicines. The results establish a baseline for assessing and

monitoring the socio-economic impact of hydrological and

ecological changes from water resource development. More than 90%

of the gross replacement value in each catchment was accounted for

by a small subset of high value species which could be used as

integrated indicators of ecological and socio-economic change. The

total value of species harvested was distributed across a large

number of sites, justifying the need for a regional management

approach to ensure the maintenance of diverse habitats for hunting

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and fishing. While ‘value’ is a cultural, context-dependent

construct, studies like this one can lend legitimacy to a targeted

approach to environmental and social impact assessment of water

resource development proposals by calling for prioritisation of

mitigation and management actions.

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1.0 Introduction

It is widely accepted that freshwater ecosystems face multiple and

severe threats rendering them one of the world’s most imperilled

ecosystems. Significant environmental damage has occurred as a

result of river regulation and alteration of flow, catchment

disturbance and habitat loss; pressures that are driven by the

escalating human demand for land and water concomitant with

widespread industrial transformation (Arthington et al., 2010;

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005). In addition to the many

ecological impacts, degradation of the world’s freshwater

resources has profound socio-economic consequences affecting the

entire human population (Vorosmarty et al., 2010). Human

interactions with water bodies and aquatic ecosystems are a source

of cultural inspiration and often have a religious foundation.

Freshwater ecosystems underpin global food production based on

commercial and subsistence fisheries, aquaculture, agriculture and

pastoral grazing (Arthington et al., 2010). Many indigenous

collectivities rely on aquatic resources for their livelihoods, and

it is these groups that are most vulnerable to the impact of water

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resource development projects, as their interests are often

overlooked and they stand to benefit least from river development

(King and Brown , 2010; see also Thomas and Twyman, 2006).

Northern Australia’s rivers and wetlands are environments of vital

importance to the numerous indigenous language groups who are

closely connected to these landscapes via customary tenure and use

of aquatic resources, cosmological beliefs and a body of

environmental knowledge accumulated over hundreds of generations.

Almost a third of northern Australia’s 300,000 inhabitants are

indigenous and, as a result of post-colonial land claims, now own

approximately a quarter of the region’s land mass (Altman and

Jackson, 2009). The strength of customary relationships with rivers

and aquatic ecosystems is now formally recognised in national

native title law, national water policy and in efforts to address

the ‘cultural values’ of water in regional natural resource

management strategies and development decisions.

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Indigenous knowledge and values therefore need to be reflected in

environmental assessments and management actions undertaken in

northern Australia, whether environmental impact studies (EISs)

prepared for agricultural or mineral development impacting on water

sources or environmental flow assessments (EFAs) conducted as part

of water allocation planning exercises. This is particularly so for

the region under study because there is considerable contestation

over development visions which manifest in the popular and

recurrent call to increase agricultural exports (Hamilton and

Gehrke, 2005).

With 55 river catchments covering an area of more than 1.3 million

km2 (Stoeckl et al., 2006), Australia’s n orth represents the world’s

largest intact tropical savannah (Woinarski et al., 2007) and

contains one of its highest concentrations of free-flowing systems

(Australian Tropical Rivers Group, 2004). The region comprises 15%

of Australia’s landmass yet its rivers account for about 65% of the

country’s runoff. S peculation about the potential to harness this

resource has been constant over a recent decadal drought as the

volume of water stored in major reservoirs in southern Australian6

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declined (Blanch, 2008) . The Federal Government magnified the

focus on the potentially valuable northern water resource in 2007

when it released a National Plan for Water Security. This plan, inter

alia , established the North Australia Land and Water Taskforce with

the aim of examining the potential for further land and water

development, particularly irrigated agricultural development. A

key recommendation of that inquiry highlights an essential research

priority for the region:

Australian governments should significantly increase investment in social,

cultural, and economic analysis to support the assessment of competing values

and uses for land and water use planning, catchment level water planning and

local decision making (2009:3).

Quantifying ecological goods and services provided by rivers and

establishing better links between environmental flows, organism

health and human well-being are therefore important research

priorities (Stoeckl et al., 2013; Zander and Straton, 2010). In this

region, lack of knowledge of ecosystem patterns, processes and

response to anthropogenic impacts represents a significant

constraint on development planning, water allocation planning and7

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statutory environmental impact assessment, as does insufficient

understanding of the socio-economic consequences. Baseline

information with which to assess changes in ecological condition is

inadequate for most Australian tropical river systems (Douglas et

al., 2011) and a lack of quantitative information to assess the

volume of water that could potentially be extracted has hampered

rational d ebate about irrigation development ( Petheram et al.,

2010) . In addition, the contribution that aquatic ecosystems make

to economic and social well-being is not well understood (Stoeckl et

al., 2006).

For environmental assessments to adequately protect the interests

of indigenous communities, they require a sound understanding of

the socio-economic and cultural significance of the environment,

particularly the degree of reliance on natural resources. Yet

Altman et al. (2012) argue that the benefits of customary or

subsistence harvest undertaken by indigenous people are

undervalued by Australian society. The relatively little

quantitative research on indigenous use of natural resources

appears to reflect that undervaluation (Altman, 1987; Asafu-8

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Adjaye, 1996; Gray and Altman, 2006; Venn and Quiggin, 2007; Walsh

and Douglas, 2011). The ‘hidden’ nature of the value of natural

resources to indigenous households provides challenges for

economic valuation methods that rely on functioning markets, prices

and demand driven measures (Field, 2002).

As one approach for assigning monetary values to a part of the larger

total economic value (TEV) of these non-market ecosystem goods and

service to indigenous households, this study uses the replacement

cost method. The replacement cost method looks at the cost of

replacing a damaged or lost asset and uses this cost as partial proxy

or measure of its value . The replacement cost method is not a demand-

based approach, and cannot be expected to generate valid or "true"

welfare measures (i.e., Marshallian or Hicksian welfare change

measures) according to economic theory, and may reflect only a part

of the larger TEV. However, the approach may still be a useful

heuristic tool in any project appraisal, and provide valuable

information to policy makers (see Turner et al. , 1993).

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The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the applicability of the

replacement cost method to assess and manage the impacts of water

resource development on the customary economies of indigenous

societies. Drawing on results from two studies of indigenous

subsistence patterns in three tropical Australian catchments (see

Jackson, 2011; Scheepers, 2012) we value the goods and provisioning

services generated by tropical rivers that are of benefit to

indigenous people for food, fibre, and medicines. We show that the

replacement cost method is a useful way of determining the species

of greatest economic value to subsistence resource users, aiding

environmental flow risk assessments and improving environmental

management.

Valuation calculations are most commonly used to feed into economic

or investment appraisal processes and a pplications to

environmental assessments remain low in number (Baker et al.,

2013). Understanding the relative importance of particular

components of the ecosystem provides critical information upon

which environmental standards can be set to maintain socially

acceptable ecological conditions (Finn and Jackson, 2011; Poff et10

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al., 2010). The results can serve as a baseline for long term

monitoring of indigenous water values.

The paper is structured as follows. We first describe our study

sites, briefly explaining the management context affecting land and

water use in these sites and then outline methods of data

collection. The paper will then turn to the results and discussion.

2.0 Data and method

2.1 The study area

Our study area comprises three large river systems in north

Australia: the Daly (Northern Territory), Fitzroy (Western

Australia) and Mitchell (Queensland) (Figure 1). North Australia

is mostly flat and consists of extensive, low, inward draining

plateaus, which are situated behind narrow coastal plains (Petheram

et al., 2008). More than 94% of the region’s rainfall is received

between November and April, generated by local convection and

tropical cyclones (CSIRO, 2009). When the region’s hydrological

characteristics are compared with the rest of the world,11

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variability and seasonality of annual stream flows are high

(Petheram et al., 2008).

Insert Figure 1 around here

All three rivers display distinct hydrological seasonality with

most of their discharge occurring predominantly during the wet

season (November to April), while inter-annual variation in the

magnitude and timing of peak flows is high (Kennard et al., 2010).

During the dry season (May to October), perennial flow in the main

channels of the Daly and Mitchell Rivers is sustained by groundwater

inputs, whereas the Fitzroy River’s main channel ceases to flow and

is classified as highly to extremely intermittent (Pusey et al.,

2009). In this environment, permanent pools fed by groundwater

provide crucial ecological refuges during exceptionally hot, dry

conditions.

The Fitzroy River catchment has a population of approximately 7,000

people, of whom 64% are indigenous (Larson and Alexandridis, 2009);

the Daly River’s population is 10,000 people of whom 28% are12

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indigenous (Larson and Alexandridis, 2009); and t he population of

the Mitchell River catchment is just over 5,500, of whom 23% are

indigenous (Larson and Alexandridis, 2009). Indigenous socio-

economic status tends to be very low: the case study regions were

described as ‘regions of disadvantage’ by Biddle (2009). The number

of indigenous residents per household is relatively high: in 2006

there were 3.8 people per household in Fitzroy Crossing (Fitzroy),

4.1 in Nauiyu Nambiyu (Daly), and 5.3 in Kowanyama (Mitchell). The

number of residents per non-indigenous household in the same

locations was 2.1, 2.2 and 1.6 people respectively (ABS, 2006).

2.3 Environmental management context

Grazing is the most extensive land use in all catchments whilst

resurgence in mining activities is underway (Webster et al., 2009).

Water is extracted for agriculture, albeit at relatively low rates,

although there is a potentially large future demand in the Daly and

Mitchell River catchments. Recent plans to dam and divert water

resources or subdivide pastoral leases, clear land and irrigate

farms in the absence of comprehensive environmental assessments or

regional natural resource management plan generated considerable13

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controversy in the Fitzroy and Daly River catchments (see Jackson,

2006; Toussaint, 2008).

Two environmental assessment processes are commonly applied to any

proposal to develop or significantly impact water resources and

both require consideration of the socio-economic effects of

environmental change. First , public works and private project

decisions that are likely to have a significant environmental

impact are assessed at a site specific level under environmental

impact assessment (EIA) legislation. Under Australia’s federal

system, the regulation and development of natural resources are

primarily the responsibility of Australia’s state governments and

so assessment procedures vary in scope and requirements across our

study sites. Social impact assessment (including consideration of

cultural heritage and other indigenous matters) is required by

regulatory approval processes for resource developments in most

Australian jurisdictions (Franks, 2012) and is often conducted

under the auspices of an EIA.

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Second, environmental flow assessments (EFAs) have emerged as key

mitigation measure in response to the need to meet the water

requirements of the environment and sustain values dependent on

healthy aquatic systems (Gardner, 2006) . Environmental flows are

defined as the ‘quantity, timing and quality of water flows required

to sustain freshwater and estuarine ecosystems and the human

livelihoods and well-being that depend on these ecosystems’ (Pahl-

Wostl et al., 2013: 2). EFAs are now mandatory under Australian

national water policy which also expects that the impacts of water

use decisions on indigenous communities will be accounted for in

water plans. To date, few plans have achieved this objective

(National Water Commission, 2011).

Previous work conducted by two of the authors (Finn and Jackson,

2011) summarised existing EFA processes in Australia and for the

following reasons demonstrated the invalidity of the prevailing

assumption that environmental flow requirements can serve as an

adequate surrogate for the protection of indigenous values:

Chosen targets for flow protection do not tend to include key

species used by indigenous people. In the Daly River for15

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example, the relatively rare Pig-nosed Turtle is the species

of most concern to conservation groups, while the highly

abundant Long-necked Turtle is very commonly caught and eaten

by indigenous people. Should Pig-nosed Turtle be chosen for

flow protection, and those flows not adequately protect the

floodplain habitats that Long-necked Turtle require,

indigenous hunters and fishers could be substantially

impacted.

Chosen flow management objectives do not adequately encompass

indigenous needs. Continuing on from the example above, Long-

necked Turtle are abundant and widely distributed. They are of

next to no conservation concern, so a flow alteration that

reduced their distribution somewhat and resulted in only a

moderate population decline may be quite acceptable to many

stakeholders. However, a moderate decline of a very common and

widespread subsistence species can have a social and economic

impact.

EFAs do not adequately address intangible indigenous social

and cultural relationships with water (see Finn and Jackson,

2011 for examples).16

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The initial EFA conducted in the Daly River for example conflated

environmental and indigenous value (Finn and Jackson, 2011). Over

the course of a number of years, water management objectives were

refined to explicitly include strategies for the protection of

environmental and cultural values. In the current draft Oolloo

Aquifer plan, water is valued for its contribution to the ‘condition

of places that provide physical and spiritual fulfilment to

Indigenous people’ (NRETAS, 2012: 11). However, the plan was

written in the ‘absence of known water requirements and specific

site locations which are important for Indigenous cultural purposes

and recreational activities’ (NRETAS 2012: 13).

Determining the environmental flow requirements for indigneous

values in water plans is a national research priority (NWC, 2011)

and is highlighted as a local priority by the water agencies in our

case study regions. For example, the Draft Kimberley Regional Water

Plan (Department of Water, 2010), which includes the Fitzroy River

catchment, acknowledges that ‘water in the Kimberley has important

cultural and social values which will continue to be understood and17

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recognised in planning and management’ (p.12) and identifies a

priority for research on ‘water-dependent values to establish water

regimes for existing ecological, social, cultural and economic

values’ (p. 34). Under this Plan, ecological, social and cultural

values of waterways will be recognised when assessing new

development proposals.

2.3 Method

Our studies sought to understand the spatial and temporal pattern of

resource use; its social, cultural and economic significance to

local indigenous communities and their economies in three

catchments and thereby contribute to improving environmental flow

and impact assessments (Jackson et al., 2011; Scheepers et al.,

2012). The study in the Daly and Fitzroy catchments commenced first

and ran for four years from 2007, whereas the Mitchell River study

commenced in 2009 and ran for three years.

One hundred households were surveyed from five discrete indigenous

communities from the three catchments (Noonkanbah (Fitzroy, WA),

Fitzroy Crossing (Fitzroy, WA), Nauiyu Nambiyu (Daly, NT), Pine18

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Creek (Daly, NT), Kowanyama (Mitchell, Qld), resulting in a total of

1168 semi-structured interviews. Average survey sample sizes

ranged from 16% (17 households) in the Mitchell River, 20% (36

households) in the Fitzroy River and 23% (24 households) in the Daly

River catchment. In the Daly and Fitzroy catchments households were

surveyed twice every three months over a two year period in 2009 and

2010 (i.e. 16 surveys). In the Mitchell catchment surveys were

undertaken once a month over a sixteen month period. The time

between surveys was reduced in the Mitchell to ensure plants and

animals with a short “harvest window” were not missed by a monthly

survey return interval. The number of households surveyed was lower

in the Mitchell catchment due to (i) competing demands on the local

indigenous researcher resident at Kowanyama; (ii) difficulties

experienced in accessing a vehicle for conducting interviews, as

well as (iii) a busy calendar of social and cultural activities.

A range of questionnaire and interview approaches can be used to

collect economic data on the use of wild resources. Intensive

methods such as direct observation (Altman 1987) and doorstep

accounting (Godoy et al. 2000, Sheil and Wunder 2002) can provide19

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accurate and detailed information. However, these methods are

expensive to implement over large areas and the presence of

observers may influence the frequency and location of harvesting

trips. Less intensive methods such as resource user diaries (Gram

2001) or periodic household surveys of resource use (Gray and Altman

2006) can be undertaken inexpensively over large spatial scales but

are subject to shortcomings related to poor participant recall or

inconsistent or unreliable data collection (Gram 2001, Gray et al.

2005). We used household surveys repeated over short time periods

to quantify harvests and catch.

Households participating in the survey were not selected at random.

Due to the frequent timing of repetitive interviews and their

potentially intrusive nature (Altman, 1987), we asked community

leaders to nominate households likely to be interested in

participating. In the manner of the snowball technique, households

initially chosen were asked to suggest others to participate

(Goodman, 1961). To reduce bias, we requested respondents to

nominate households that harvested resources from different areas

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or at different rates of intensity (for further detail see Jackson

et al. 2011; Scheepers 2012).

The economic value of resources consumed by households was

calculated using the replacement cost method (Asafu-Adjaye, 2005)

where the market price of a proxy or substitute is used for products

without a market value:

GRV = (aWt*aTN*aV) + (bWt*bTN*bV) + (cWt*cTN*cV)

Where:

GRV = Gross replacement value;

aWt; bWt; cWt = mean weight in grams of large (a), medium (b) and

small (c) plants or animals;

aTN; bTN; cTN = total number of individuals of a species

harvested or consumed in the large (a), medium (b) and small

(c) size classes;

aV; bV; cV = “shop value” of the replacement item for a species in

the large (a), medium (b) and small (c) size classes.

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While this method provides only a partial economic value and may not

capture other non-material values, it can be readily compared with

existing information on household cash incomes, such as census

data . Data from the 2006 census conducted by the Australian Bureau

of Statistics (ABS, 2006) is used to report results here because it

was used as the basis for designing the research program and

selecting sample sizes. We report our replacement values as a "per

household, per fortnight" figure to enable such comparisons with

cash income and to give the reader a sense of scale when considering

our findings.

Replacement items were chosen to reflect the predominate use of the

species they were to replace (e.g. food or bait), as well as a strong

or weak preference for the species. Barramundi ( Lates calcarifer ), for

example, was considered by respondents from the Mitchell River as a

prized catch, and so its value was equated with a more expensive

store-bought item such as ‘Yellowtail Kingfish’ ( Seriola lalandi),

priced at A$39.45/kg. Likewise, Long-necked Turtle, a commonly

eaten species of turtle, was allocated the price of T-bone steak

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($20.69), while Pig-nosed Turtle (often viewed as ‘special’) was

allocated the more expensive value of fillet steak ($35.50).

Prices for replacement items were obtained from a major supermarket

chain with an online catalogue for goods and prices as product

availability in local stores was usually too low to obtain useful

replacement items for all species. Very high prices are charged for

goods in the local store because of geographic remoteness. The use

of an online catalogue should therefore be viewed as a conservative

approach to the final valuation.

Once replacement values were calculated, data were reviewed to

assess patterns of resource use and the resulting value of

consumption. For each catchment we looked at the 10 species of

highest value that were consumed (per fortnight/household), giving

some insight into how replacement value was spread across species.

We then calculated the top 5 sites in each catchment by replacement

value, and which species within each of these sites contributed to

this value. This information enabled us to assess whether resource

use value was spread across a large or small number of sites, and23

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whether the economic value of each site was well defined by a small or

large suite of harvested species.

3.0 Results

The full inventory of aquatic resources harvested shows that fifty-

six species were harvested from across the sites, with twelve

species being common to all three (Appendix 1). The total value of

consumed wild resources to surveyed communities ranged from

approximately A$36 per household per fortnight in the Fitzroy

catchment to almost three times that amount in the Mitchell River,

where the consumption was valued at $99.99 (Table 1). Long-necked

Turtle ( Chelodina rugosa ) was the highest value species consumed by

survey households in the Daly catchment. Non-fish species made up a

higher proportion of resources commonly consumed in the Daly than

they did in the Fitzroy or Mitchell catchments (Table 1).

Seven of the ten species with the highest replacement value consumed

in the Fitzroy catchment were fish species (Table 1). Two of these

fish species, Bony Bream ( Nematalosa erebi ) and Spangled Perch

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( Leiopotherapon unicolor ), are small bodied species predominately used

as bait for catching other fish. Black Bream ( Hephaestus jenkinsi ) and

Catfish ( Arius spp.) are two popular food species that were of high

value to indigenous households in the Fitzroy. Freshwater Sawfish

( Pristis pristis ) was harvested in lower numbers than other species but

their large size (up to 2m) mean that each individual has a high

replacement value. Cherabin ( Macrobrachium spinipes ), also known as

freshwater prawn, is a large-bodied decapod crustacean that is

captured from rivers and billabongs. Smaller sized Cherabin are

used for bait, while the larger bodied individuals are eaten.

Cherabin are found in much larger sizes later in the dry season.

These results confirm the importance of the river channel to

indigenous resource use in the Fitzroy and highlight the need to

sustain required flows throughout the year.

Insert Table 1 here

In the Mitchell, the popularity of freshwater fish species like

Catfish, Barramundi, Black Bream and Freshwater Jewfish (Neosilurus

spp.) reflects the frequent use of freshwater creeks and waterholes25

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at Kowanyama (Scheepers et al., 2012). However, the relatively high

value of saltwater species such as Grunter ( Pomadasys kraakan ) and

Threadfin Salmon ( Polydactylus macrochir ) in the Mitchell suggests that

the higher level of access to saltwater and estuarine environments

by survey respondents here than in the Fitzroy and Daly can have a

substantial effect on which species are harvested and consumed.

The ten species with the highest combined replacement value

accounted for more than 95% of the total value in all three

catchments (Daly River: 97%; Fitzroy River: 98%; Mitchell River:

95%). While the ten species with the highest value represented more

than 97% of the total value recorded in the Daly surveys, the same was

not true when data was analysed by site. The five sites providing the

highest value of consumed resource in the Daly River (Table 2)

provided only 53% of the total replacement value. Within sites

however, the five species contributing the highest replacement

value at each site represented more than 99% of the total value

derived from that site (Table 2).

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The ability of a subset of sites to represent total replacement

value was even more limited in the Fitzroy River catchment. The five

sites representing the highest replacement value of household

consumption during our surveys represented only 32% of the value for

all sites in the catchment (Table 2). As was true in the Daly River

catchment, the five species contributing the highest replacement

value within each site represented well over 90% of the site’s total

value (Table 2).

Insert Table 2 here.

In the Mitchell, the five sites providing the highest household

consumption value accounted for only 37% of the total value (Table

2). Within sites, the five species contributing the highest values

represented more than 93% of the total value for those sites. This

suggests that people are actively selecting these sites because

they support high-value species, and that the range of species

harvested from each individual site is not large.

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The use of household consumption data in this study allows for an

estimation of the value of customary use of aquatic resources as a

proportion of indigenous household income (Table 3). Household

incomes were derived from 2006 census data (ABS 2006) for the “Urban

Centres and Localities” of Fitzroy Crossing (WA), Nauiyu Nambiyu

(NT) and Kowanyama (Qld). Each of these townships represents the

major urban centres in our study areas. Median fortnightly

indigenous incomes ranged from $1336 (Nauiyu Nambiyu), to $1938

(Kowanyama). Fitzroy Crossing had a median fortnightly household

income of $1640. The value of household consumption of aquatic

species in each location ranged from 2.2% to 5.2% of the median

fortnightly income (Table 3).

Perhaps more tellingly, the imputed value of household consumption

of bush foods (non-market) represented a substantial proportion of

the total value of household food consumption (non-market and

market/store bought). A parallel study to ours collected data on

household expenditure on store bought foods in the Daly River and

Mitchell River catchments (Stoeckl et al., 2011). When the total

value of food consumed by indigenous households in these two28

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catchments was compared with the imputed value of bush foods, the

percentage contribution of bush foods represented 13.0 % of the

total in the Daly, and 22.7% of the total in the Mitchell (Table 3).

Insert Table 3 here

4.0 Discussion

While largely unaccounted for in official estimates of food

production, subsistence activity is a key feature of the remote

indigenous customary economy (Altman, 2001), providing households

with a low-cost means of supplementing low incomes in economically

disadvantaged regions (Biddle, 2009). Financial stress is widely

reported across north Australia with, on average, close to 30% of

indigenous households stating that they had experienced

difficulties paying for everyday necessities in the 12 months prior

to interview, including food, clothing, medical bills and housing

costs ( 32.6% of the NT’s indigenous population, 29.1% of Western

Australia’s and 23.9% Queensland’s) (ABS, 2008). With wild harvest

accounting for between 13% and 23% of the value of food consumed in

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indigenous households in the Daly and Mitchell catchments (and

presumably offsetting the purchase cost of food by the equivalent

amount), it is clear that the long-standing reliability and ready

availability of these species contributes important food supplies

to these communities.

In each of our study areas, the top 10 species made up more than 95% of

the replacement value of the subsistence harvest. A focus on those

species that provide the greatest subsidy to indigenous household

incomes constitutes a useful way of overcoming the conventional

exclusion of indigenous values from water resource decisions and

mitigation actions (Finn and Jackson, 2011). Results from the Daly

case for example influenced a quantitative environmental flow risk

assessment that informed the Oolloo Aquifer Water Allocation

Plan (using Bayesian Belief Network predictive models; Chan et

al., 2012). Researchers learnt that two species at high risk

from low flows, black bream and barramundi, were amongst the

most economically important of species to indigenous

communities, resulting in their inclusion in the risk

assessment. In the absence of this information, the assessment30

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would have been conducted on barramundi alone, a species that

is not as popular with indigenous fishers as it is with

recreational fishers.

Our results have two key implications that provide direction for

environmental managers with scarce resources to devote to assessing

and monitoring environmental change and impacts on indigenous

resource use throughout a catchment. First, they can focus on a

subset of economically valuable species in efforts to fill current

gaps in knowledge of hydrological discharge, ecological response

and subsequent impacts to indigenous harvest and other values. With

a sound understanding of these relationships the level of exposure

of these popular species to adverse risks from water resource

development and the consequences for local livelihoods could be

assessed within a social component of an EIA or environmental flow

assessment. With information on life histories and flow ecology,

individual species of high value could be selected as integrated

indicators potentially capable of revealing the ecological and

socio-economic effects of anticipated changes in hydrological

flows. For example, any flow alterations that impact Long-neck31

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Turtle and reduce indigenous catches are likely to have an adverse

effect on indigenous household incomes and well-being in the Daly

River catchment because Long-neck Turtle alone made up 39% of the

total replacement value (Table 1).

Second, in light of these results, managers can more confidently

target high value species in management and mitigation actions than

if they were to employ a spatial approach. In contrast to the

contribution of the top 10 species to replacement value (> 95%), the

contribution of the 5 highest value sites in each location ranged

from only 32% to 53%. For example, managing flows in the Fitzroy for

the single species with the highest replacement value (Black Bream)

would capture 35% of the total value. Whereas, managing flows for

the single highest value site (Fitzroy River down from Noonkanbah

Airport), would capture only 12% of total replacement value. While

we are not recommending that single-species or single-site flow

management strategies should be considered, our data certainly

suggests that consideration of a targeted subset of species is

likely to capture a larger proportion of the replacement value of

indigenous harvest than targeting a subset of visited sites.32

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A further word of warning on focussing entirely on species and

excluding valuable spatial information is warranted. In the

Mitchell catchment, survey respondents targeted key species at

sites where they knew they could be successful, but also consciously

utilised a high number of peripheral or secondary sites and habitat

types across their customary estates. This strategy was described

as an appropriate cultural protocol; those who did not adhere to

these practices were considered ‘greedy’ for concentrating their

efforts on a select few sites perceived to be of higher risk of over-

exploitation and their behaviour was viewed as ‘disrespectful’ to

the ancestors, the creators and providers of these resources

(Scheepers, 2012). To account for this cultural driver of site use,

our study further endorses a regional approach that could be

implemented in a stratified fashion, with the ‘high value’ sites

subject to more intensive monitoring that other sites.

Notwithstanding the advantages of the approach described here for

prioritising mitigation and management actions for development

proposals, care needs to be taken when assumptions are made about a33

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subset of ‘high value’ species. ‘Value’ is a culturally complex,

context-dependent concept that requires an approach capable of

encompassing multiple valuation criteria (Adamowicz et al., 1998;

Toussaint, 2008; 2010) in addition to respecting the views of

particular cultural groups to substitution, commensurability and

replacement (Chan et al., 2012). For example, for one Daly River

indigenous language group, the death of a man whose totem was the

Magpie Goose resulted in cultural restrictions on the consumption

of that species for a substantial period of mourning. Cultural

practices may well affect the weighting given to goods or resources

that are assumed to be substitutes and, by this logic, which classes

of value are amenable to trade-offs in analytical frameworks such as

benefit-cost analysis. Indeed, the use of economic proxies to

quantify the value of aquatic resources as a function of their

substitutability was foreign to many resource users in our study

sites.

As prices and therefore economic values vary over time according to

demand and supply functions outside the study area, it is plausible

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that were this work repeated in 20 years findings might show (a) the

replacement cost of harvest as a percentage of household income has

changed and/or (b) the replacement cost of particular species has

changed. This does not alter our finding that there is benefit in

targeting a small subset of species that make up a large proportion

of economic value. While economic values and perhaps the subset of

high value species may change over time, the need to understand how

flow alterations may affect key species and subsequently impact

local communities will remain high for as long as indigenous

communities wish to pursue their distinct lifestyles. A baseline

data set is a prerequisite to exploring whether future observed

changes are a result of fluctuating market prices, household income

levels or rates of catch per unit effort resulting from

environmental perturbation. Knowledge that a small group of species

can adequately describe the potential socio-economic impact of

water management decisions may motivate practitioners to adopt a

more socially inclusive approach to assessment and monitoring

programs.

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5 .0 Conclusion

The subsistence use of aquatic resources makes a valuable

contribution to indigenous economies in the three regions under

study. Water resource developments that alter river flow regimes,

modify habitat availability, restrict access and influence species

distributions could reduce fishing and harvesting rates, in turn

affecting indigenous livelihoods and well-being (Stoeckl et al.,

2013). Yet the subsistence value of ecosystem goods and services has

not been recognised through quantification in any Australian

assessments of environmental flows or other water use decisions

(Finn and Jackson, 2011), nor in EIAs relating to development

projects like the McArthur River mine in the Northern Territory

where the river channel was diverted to allow open cut mining.

Rather than emphasize the trade-offs between non-market and market

values, for example wild food versus commercial crops, we reveal the

importance of wild aquatic resources relative to one another by

providing an ordinal scale of value. A very large proportion of the

gross replacement value that we calculated for aquatic species was

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made up of a relatively small subset of high value species. These

species could be targeted for environmental water risk assessments

and as integrated indicators of change in river flows, ensuring that

the monitoring of flow perturbations account for some indigenous

values. However, the total value of species harvested was

distributed across a large number of locations; a feature to note

for assessment of water resource use impacts. While a relatively

small subset of species will encompass a large proportion of the

value of customary harvest, a subset of aquatic sites will not.

Scoping for indigenous values in flow assessments should aim to be

spatially inclusive, but can focus on small subsets of key species.

The valuation undertaken in this study serves three purposes.

Firstly, it provides preference weights for species and sites of

importance for indigenous subsistence, and, secondly, it assists

water managers who have limited resources and knowledge to target

areas of greatest economic value to indigenous communities in their

research, management and mitigation activities. Lastly¸ we find it

a useful tool for establishing a baseline from which to measure

socio-ecological system changes. As argued by Emerton (2005),37

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linking physical changes in ecosystem status and integrity to

changes in economic values and expressing the results as indicators

or measures allows such values to be integrated into broader

economic impact analysis (see also Stoeckl et al., 2013).

Substantial gaps in knowledge remain, ranging from the flow

requirements of species harvested by indigenous people to the

relationship between species’ population dynamics and indigenous

harvest success. These gaps mean that clear calculations of changes

in the replacement value of aquatic species associated with flow

alteration scenarios remain problematic. However, studies like

this lend legitimacy to a targeted approach to filling those gaps

and advancing the inclusion of socio-economic and cultural values

in water resource planning and management and in environmental

impact assessments.

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Acknowledgements

The paper is based on research conducted under the Tropical Rivers

and Coastal Knowledge Research Hub (TRaCK). TRaCK receives major

funding for its research through the Australian Government’s

Commonwealth Environment Research Facilities initiative; the

Australian Government’s Raising National Water Standards Program;

Land and Water Australia; the Fisheries Research and Development

Corporation and the Queensland Government’s Smart State Innovation

Fund.

The authors would also like to acknowledge the contributions of

traditional owners in the Daly River, Fitzroy River and Mitchell

River regions and their representative organisations, the Northern

Land Council, the Kimberley Land Council and the Kowanyama

Aboriginal Land and Natural Resource Management Office.

Constructive input to various aspects of the research was provided

by Jon Altman, Michael Douglas, Brad Pusey, Mark Kennard, Natalie

Stoeckl, Emma Woodward, Alan Andersen, Marcus Barber, Tony

Griffiths, Sandy Toussaint and Geoff Buchanan. We would39

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particularly like to thank Michael Douglas and Vanessa Adams for

their helpful comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript and the

reviewers. Any errors and omissions are the responsibility of the

authors.

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