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Abstract
Over the past 60 years governments
have proposed the development of
agriculture in Australia’s north. One of
the prime examples of this is found in
the Ord region, in the east Kimberley
region of Western Australia and the
Northern Territory. Ord River flows have
been regulated since two large dams
were built in 1963 and 1972 to provide
water for irrigation, hydroelectric power
and other commercial needs.
There are plans for substantial
expansion of the Ord River Irrigation
Scheme and a new water allocation
plan (WAP) was finalised at the end
of 2013. This paper discusses the new
Ord WAP using an integrated water
management approach. It finds that
water planning would be assisted with
more transparent risk assessment, social
input and economic evaluation, and that
negotiating the multiple perspectives
of stakeholders would need to consider
the benefits that people obtain from
ecosystems and placing an economic
value on this natural capital. These
lessons are applicable to other
water resources in the north.
Keywords: Water planning, Western
Australia, Ord catchment, social values,
economic assessment, risk assessment,
ecosystems services, natural capital.
Introduction
Australia’s wild north has long captured
public attention (Davidson, 1969;
Head, 1999). However, it was private
interests in 1939 that unveiled the first
plan for tropical irrigated agriculture in
Australia’s north, for the Ord region in
the east Kimberley region of Western
Australia and the Northern Territory
(Graham-Taylor, 1982, cited in Hill et
al., 2008). After a trial of irrigated
pastures in the 1940s, in a worldwide
era of big dams post World War II, the
Ord Irrigation Project was established
with major government funding. The
Commonwealth Government recently
announced its intention to further
develop the north, with private investors,
mainly as a food bowl, to benefit from
its proximity to fast-growing Asian
economies (LNP, 2013).
Ord River flows are regulated
to provide water for irrigation and
hydroelectric power. The first diversion
dam in 1962 allowed the irrigation of
100,000 hectares and the establishment
of the town of Kununurra. The main dam
was built in 1969, and the hydroelectric
power station in 1996, supplying power
to the region and the Argyle Diamond
Mine. There are plans for substantial
expansion of the Ord River Irrigation
Scheme (ORIS) as part of the East
Kimberley Development Plan (RDL, 2009).
As in many of the world’s regulated
rivers, there are multiple users
competing for water. In the Australian
context these uses and users are
accommodated through water planning,
a key feature of water governance
since national water reforms (CoAG,
1994, 2004; Hampstead et al., 2008;
Tan et al., 2010). The National Water
Initiative 2004 (NWI) aims to provide for
sustainable use of water, increasing the
security of water access entitlements,
and ensuring economically efficient use
of water. These objectives are to be
achieved principally by strengthening
environmental flow provisions, removing
barriers to markets in water, and
providing for public benefit outcomes
through water plans.
In preparing surface and groundwater
management plans for areas of concern,
State and Territory jurisdictions are
expected to undertake transparent
statutory planning relying on best
available information, to consult and
involve communities, including Indigenous
groups, and trade-offs between
competing outcomes for water systems
are to be considered and settled using
the best available science, social and
economic analysis and community input.
The NWI reflects key literature
on integrated water management
requiring that all issues that impact on
the resource be considered in a plan
(Mitchell, 1990; Lenton and Muller, 2009).
Strategies for negotiation, policy and
planning need to be undertaken with
the objective of ecological, social and
economic sustainability, often termed
the ‘triple bottom line’. Costanza et
al. (1997, p 3) and other ecological
economists urge “strategies should be
based upon an economically efficient
allocation of resources that adequately
accounts for protecting the stock of
natural capital”. Thus sustainable water
management should adhere to the
principles of sustainable scale, equitable
distribution and efficient allocation. As a
qualitative desktop exercise, this paper
has undertaken a risk assessment of
the current Ord WAP in the context of
protecting the stock of natural capital
in the Ord River catchment. We identify
four key components that are not part
of the current plan:
1. Publicly available current environmental/
social/economic risk assessment, or the
results of such a study, are not included
in the current WAP.
2. The Department of Water (DoW),
the regulating authority of the WAP,
only has authority to act in Western
Australia and on behalf of the
PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE:
INTEGRATED WATER MANAGEMENT
IN THE ORD RIVER CATCHMENT
A discussion about the new Ord WAP and how more
transparent risk assessment, social input and economic
evaluation would assist in water planning
AC Turville, S Cullen, PL Tan

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Western Australian communities. The
catchment is partially in the Northern
Territory and decisions impacting the
catchment should be coordinated
across the catchment.
3. The WAP is a surface water allocation
plan. Due to the physically connected
nature of the surface water and
groundwater resources in the
catchment these resources should not
be assessed and managed in isolation.
4. Risk relating to uncertain impacts
of climate change has not been
adequately addressed.
Risk management through water
planning is one of the five main themes
in the NWI (Hamstead et al., 2008).
Complying with ISO 31000:2009 Risk
Management Standard, the methodology
used provides a framework to approach
risk management, identifying potential
hazards, addressing the actual risks in
a logical and thorough way, while giving
stakeholders some level of comfort
that risks are being managed within the
scope of what are reasonable resources,
capacity and risk tolerances. We propose
that a risk mitigation strategy be
undertaken as part of future revisions
of the WAP, which, if adopted, would
lead to a reduction in impacts of high-
risk factors. Our findings are that the
protection of natural capital would
be enhanced by:
• The inclusion of a social impact
assessment so that decision makers
are aware of the broader impacts that
water allocations in the plan may have
on all stakeholders;
• The formation of an interstate
governance body to coordinate and
manage trans-boundary aspects of
land and water development;
• Integration of the impacts of the WAP
on surface water and groundwater
ecosystems;
• Investigating and including mitigation
measures against the risks associated
with the uncertainty of climate change.
Context of Water
Planning in the Ord
History of water planning
Water planning in northern Australia
has trailed planning in the south,
because of the relatively undisturbed
waterways and undeveloped land;
this has resulted in less urgency to
allocate water to stakeholders through
statutory water plans. While many of the
north’s catchments are undisturbed by
development, the same cannot be said
for the Ord Region, with regulation of
the Ord River’s flow for the past 40
years having major impacts on the
environment (DoW, 2012).
Water planning and regulation of
the Ord River originates from a bygone
era during which large government
infrastructure projects gave scant regard
to the impacts on stakeholders, in
particular the Indigenous community
and the environment. The envisaged
potential of the north as a world ‘food
bowl’ promoted by governments past
and present has tended to ignore
the harsh realities of the true cost of
pursuing such endeavours, financially,
environmentally and culturally.
Development of the north is on the
agenda again with the Northern Australian
Land and Water Taskforce established
in 2007 to consider how development
of northern Australia’s land and water
resources can take place without
compromising the ecological and cultural
values of the region (NALWT, 2009). The
terms of reference of the Taskforce were
changed in September of 2008, with
a shift in the focus towards “increased
scrutiny of how water availability and
potential environmental impacts may
be limiting factors [on new development
opportunities]” (NALWT, 2009 p1).
The Ord Region is now on the doorstep
of the next phase of development in the
region with the announcement in 2012 of
Kimberley Agricultural Investment (KAI)
as the preferred proponent to lease and
develop 13,400ha into irrigated farmland
under the Ord-East Kimberley Expansion
Project. Water allocation planning
is one of a suite of policies to assist
with this and the Ord Surface Water
Allocation Plan (Ord WAP) was finalised
in September 2013 (DoW, 2013).
History of settlement
The Ord River catchment includes
traditional lands of people from the
Gidja, Malngin, Miriuwung, Wadainybung,
Dulbung and Kuluwaring Indigenous
language groups (Barber and Rumley,
2003, p11). The traditional owners,
who have been present for an estimated
40,000 years, have a strong connection
with the natural environment and hold
themselves responsible for their country.
The first non-Indigenous interest
in the Kimberley area came after the
exploration by Alexander Forrest in
1879 that spoke of the vast pastoral and
agricultural potential (Graham-Taylor,
1978, p22). Cattlemen began to arrive
from the southern and eastern states
and there was a brief gold rush in 1887.
Throughout the early 1900s pastoral
crops were trialled. While cotton proved
to be unsuccessful the potential for
commercial scale tropical agriculture
was still attractive.
Investigations into irrigated
agriculture began in the 1940s with the
establishment of the Kimberley Research
Station, and in 1962 the Kununurra
Diversion Dam was constructed to
provide water for irrigation of the
Stage 1 area. Coinciding with this was
the establishment of the township of
Kununurra. The population of the region
grew to 6,528 by 2011 (ABS 1&2, 2011).
State of water resources, use,
pre-dam environment
Water resources in the Ord River
catchment include: the Wilson, Bow,
Negri, Dunham and Ord Rivers and
their tributaries, floodplains and
floodplain lagoons; Lake Argyle and Lake
Kununurra; the groundwater aquifer; and
the inland and marine wetlands including
the Ramsar sites of the Perry Lagoons,
Ord Estuary and False Mouths of the Ord
where the Ord River empties into the
Timor Sea in the Cambridge Gulf (DoW,
2006, p11; DoW, 2013, p3; Hale, 2008 p5;
Smith et al., 2010, p1236).
The most significant regulating
infrastructure in the catchment includes:
the Ord River Dam, which forms Lake
Argyle and incorporates a hydroelectric
power station, and the Kununurra
Diversion Dam, which forms Lake
Kununurra. Since damming, the natural
wet and dry seasonal flows have been
altered and consequently changed
the pre-dam environment (DoW, 2012,
p14). Flow is now managed to provide a
minimum flow year-round for irrigation
and hydroelectricity generation demands,
and environmental flows (DoW, 2013).
Although the natural environment
has been modified due to regulation,
the post-dam environmental value has
been recognised by the Environmental
Protection Agency and recommended
to be protected (DoW, 2012, p18); hence
any ecological restoration to return
the natural environment to pre-dam
conditions is unlikely as the current
environmental flows are based on
protecting the post-dam environment.

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Doupe & Pettit (2002, p307) assert
that the Ord River flow regimes required
for ecological restoration, and the flows
required to ensure dilution of agricultural
effluent, are entirely different and that
the two cannot co-exist.
Objectives of former water plan and
protection of environmental values
The first Ord River Water Management
Plan (2006) commenced in 1997 and
evolved in a time of broad structural
reform of water management, including
the NWI. While progress was made
towards allocation of sustainable
environmental flows in the first WAP,
Ayre (2008) argues many stakeholders
have become disengaged due to the
protracted and convoluted process
of the 2006 plan and changing political
landscape. In particular Ayre (2008) noted
that Indigenous engagement strategies
needed to identify implications of water
plans for cultural heritage values and
practice, and that decision-support
systems for transparent trade-off analysis
in decision-making were required.
Policy and Legislation
Through administering the Rights in
Water Irrigation (RIWI) Act 1914 the DoW
“seeks to balance the ecological needs
and social expectations of water in the
natural environment with society’s need
to use water for public water supply
and commercial purposes” (DoW, 2006,
p V). There are about 20 international,
national and state policies, legislation,
treaties and regulations that influence
the management of the Ord River and
the Ramsar listed wetlands.
Pressures and risks to resources
Water resources in the Ord River Basin
experience pressures from extractive
demands, water uses, land use in the
catchment and river regulation (DoW
2013, p10–13).
Extractive Demands: Mining,
irrigation and losses associated with
hydroelectricity generation reduce
river flows (DoW, 2013; DoW, 2006).
Urban Demand: Kununurra sources
water from an aquifer just above the
Kununurra diversion dam on the
northern bank (DoW, 2013, p28).
Land Use & Pollution: Agricultural
and urban land uses have both been
demonstrated to have water quality
and ecological impacts on waterways
(Wasson et al., 2010). The area of
land for agricultural use in the Ord
River catchment is expected to
increase as more water is available for
irrigation (DoW, 2013), however future
irrigation schemes are subject to tight
environmental conditions for agricultural
tail water.1
Regulating Infrastructure: The Ord
River Dam and Kununurra Diversion
Dam have created the ecologically
significant artificial wetlands – Lake
Argyle and Lake Kununurra (Hale,
2008, p17) and contributed to the
characteristics of the ecologically
significant wetlands of the Lower
Ord River (DoW, 2006; DoW, 2013).
However, alterations to flow regimes
has potential for serious negative
consequences for aquatic biodiversity
(Bunn & Arthington, 2002).
Climate Change: Whetton (2011, p42)
lists likely impacts of climate change
in the north of Australia as a fourfold
increase in days over 35°C, thus an
increase in people experiencing heat
stress, and an increase in fire, extreme
rainfall events and flooding are also
predicted by 2030. The Ord River
catchment already experiences high
evaporation due to high air temperatures
throughout the year (Smith et al., 2010).
Increased temperatures and incidence of
days over 35°C will increase catchment
evaporation. Additionally, increases in
fire, extreme rainfall and flooding events
will increase the uncertainty in planning,
both for future availability of water, and
suitability of agriculture in the region.
Drivers for further development:
Australia’s proximity to a rapidly growing
Asian region with more than 500 million
people is a main driver for expansion and
growth as demand for food and beef from
the region is increasing. As the Ord River
Irrigation Scheme has not reached its full
potential, state and federal governments
are looking for opportunities for the Ord
to fulfil its promise.
Description and
analysis of 2013 plan
using IWRM approach
Objectives and desired outcomes
of 2013 Plan
The Ord WAP 2013 was released in
September 2013 after considerable
effort by the DoW to include
community consultation and stakeholder
engagement in the decision-making
process. The objectives and desired
outcomes of the Ord Surface WAP
(DoW, 2013) are listed in Box 1.
Main features
of the WAP
The DoW Ord Surface Water Allocation
Plan (2013) defines the water users and
sets rules for water allocation from the
river. A cap of 905 GL/year is placed on
the amount of water that can be allocated
to users with the current infrastructure
arrangements. Water trading is allowed
under the plan, however the current
demand is much lower than the annual
cap, and water trading is not expected
to become a regular feature of water
management in the catchment until the
water is fully allocated. The plan has a
tiered system of restrictions to adjust
allocation to all users in years where
there are low flows into the Argyle and
Kununurra Lakes (DoW, 2013, p27, p35).
Although the past 10 years has seen
progress in Australian water legislation
towards maintaining environmental
flows, there has been a tendency to base
environmental impact assessments on
water flow models and the effects of
water-sharing plans on the environment
(Baldwin et al., 2009).
The current plan’s outcomes and
objectives prioritise water for irrigation,
hydroelectricity and meeting the legislative
environmental requirements, i.e. “Resource
Objectives” which relate to flows, floods
and river levels. There are no objectives
specifically relating to economically
efficient water use and related investment
that maximise the economic, social and
environmental value of the water resource
in the Ord. We believe an integrated
water management approach would help
to ensure decision makers are aware of
the broader context of issues and help
to ensure balanced decisions are made.
Assessing the risks
of not maximising
economic, social and
environmental values
in the Ord
According to Vanclay (2003, p2),
social and economic risk assessment
refers to “the processes of analysing,
monitoring and managing the intended
and unintended social consequences,
both positive and negative, of planned
interventions (policies, programs, plans,
projects) and any social change processes
invoked by those interventions”.
1
Rob Cossart, WA Department of Water Program Manager Water Resource Use and Management, Kimberley Region, Pers Comm, 11 April 2014.

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There are many risks to be considered
in regard to further expanding
consumptive use through expansion of
the Ord River Irrigation Scheme. Best
practice should see the WAP address all
risks identified by stakeholders and the
agreed necessary mitigation measures
adopted. Where no action is deemed
necessary, this should be communicated
in a transparent manner within the plan
or its supporting documentation.
Discussion
Risk 1: Impact Assessment
and Cost Benefit Analysis
A transparent, up-to-date,
rigorous, collaborative and inclusive
Environmental, Social and Economic
Impact Assessment process coupled
with a Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA)
would begin to address the risks of
externalising costs and impacts of
Stage Two and Stage Three of the Ord
Irrigation Scheme and the risk of moving
ahead with expansion projects which
may not be financially viable. Head
(1999) cites research by BR Davidson that
suggests Ord Stage One was constructed
despite economic analysis demonstrating
that it was not economically viable.
The most recent publicly available
cost benefit analysis of the Ord River
Irrigation Area, undertaken by Hassall
& Associates in 1993, “showed that
between 1958 and 1991 the government
had invested $613 million into the
scheme to extract benefits of just $102
million” (Economists at Large, 2013, p4).
The Economists at Large (2013 p5)
also argue that the 1993 Hassall &
Associates analysis could have been
updated at relatively low cost.
Using tools such as Environmental,
Social and Economic Risk Assessment
and CBA, decision makers can begin to
look beyond the traditional indicators
of project cost and payback and put
a value to other cultural, social and
environmental consequences of the
potential project. An example of this
is Hope’s (2002) study of three dams
in Malaysia, Nepal and Turkey.
Identifying the benefits that people
obtain from ecosystems, and placing an
economic value on this natural capital,
is a critical component that should be
included in any analysis. The CBA should
then be undertaken through the concept
of total economic value (Figure 1),
defined by Admiraal et al., (2013, p13)
as “an expression of the total value of the
benefits derived from a marginal change
in an ecosystem, expressed in monetary
terms, which can subsequently be used in
cost–benefit models while being mindful
Box 1. Ord Surface Water Allocation Plan (DoW, 2013, pp 8–9).
Outcomes
Outcomes are the broad ecological, social and economic consequences of our water resource management. The expected
outcomes of this plan are:
• Secure and reliable water supplies for a strong and expanding irrigation industry
• A healthy lower Ord River environment
• As much hydroelectricity production as possible, within the limits of the water needed by irrigators and the downstream
environment
• Traditional Indigenous access, water-based tourism and recreational opportunities that complement the irrigation,
environmental and power outcomes.
Resource Objectives
Water resource objectives state how we want the water resource to perform as a result of the management we put in place.
They are specific and measurable, and ensure the outcomes can be met.
This plan’s resource objectives are as follows:
a. flows measured at Tarrara Bar meet the environmental water provision, including:
I. the baseflow component for wet and dry seasons
II. annual and inter-annual wet season peak flows
III. infrequent wet season flood events
b. water levels in Lake Argyle are maintained above irrigation restriction levels in 95 per cent of years.
Figure 1. Total economic value.

5. JUNE 2014 water
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of ecosystem sustainability”. This latter
point is critical, as a criticism of the total
economic value approach is that it ignores
questions of sustainable use and bases the
monetary value of ecosystems purely on
the flow of human benefits of ecosystem
services (Admiraal et. al., 2013, p13).
As CBA has limitations, it should be
used as a complementary ‘tool in the
planner’s kit’ to assist and debate policy
change; and there is evidence of adverse
consequences to the environment when
cost and benefits are not considered
(Atkinson & Mourato, 2008).
The outcomes of the CBA should
be used to assist decision-making and
policy development; and as part of an
ongoing cycle, the impacts of policies
on society, the economy and ecosystems
should be re-valued in an iterative
process (see Figure 2).
Risk 2: Interstate
Basin Governance
There is a Memorandum of
Understanding that the M2 channel will
be expanded to supply 14,000 ha of land
in the Northern Territory (DoW, 2013),
however, there is no information about
shared environmental, social, cultural or
economic objectives between the two
states for the Basin. Funding should be
provided for an interstate collaborative
management group for the Ord River
Basin with equivalent authority to
the Government of Western Australia
Department of Water so decisions
impacting the river are consistent
across the catchment.
‘Ord Land and Water’ was formed in
1998 by the local community to ensure
sustainable natural resource management
in the Ord River Irrigation Area through
community participation (OLW, 2011).
Ord Land and Water is a community
organisation and does not have the
same status as an organisation such
as the Murray Darling Basin Authority
(MDBA), which, under the Water Act,
facilitates water sharing across states,
among other legislative requirements. The
MDBA approach of managing the water
resource across state boundaries allows for
objectives such as “supporting sustainable
and integrated management of the MDB in
a way that best meets the social, economic
and environmental needs of the Basin and
its communities” (MDB, 2013).
The DoW only has authority to act in
Western Australia and on behalf of the
Western Australian communities. While
the time is not ripe for a sophisticated
institution like the MDBA to be created in
the Ord, trans-boundary aspects of land and
water development should be managed by
an organisation with formal authority.
Risk 3: Incorporate
Groundwater and
Surface Water
Interactions in Planning
Groundwater and surface water are highly
connected in the Ord River catchment.
Smith et al. (2010) document that, since
the Ord irrigation scheme was developed
in the 1960s, groundwater levels in the
catchment have been rising. In the last
decade groundwater levels have stabilised
within a few metres of the ground
surface. This has occurred because the
groundwater has started to intersect with
some unlined irrigation channels, and
flows into the channels. Groundwater
quality is variable and can, therefore, be
unsuitable for either human consumption
or irrigation due to high levels of salinity
and sodicity (Smith et al., 2010).
Risk 4: Incorporate
the Uncertainty of
Climate Change in Water
Supply Planning
Whetton (2011, p42) lists likely impacts
of climate change in the north of
Australia as a fourfold increase in days
over 35°C, thus an increase in people
experiencing heat stress, an increase
in fire, extreme rainfall events and
flooding are also predicted by 2030. The
magnitude of rainfall change in northern
Australia is a major uncertainty (IPCC,
2014, Chapter 25) and water restrictions
as set out in the Ord WAP occurred for
the first time last year2
.
The Ord River catchment already
experiences high evaporation due to
high air temperatures throughout the
year (Smith et al., 2010). Additionally,
increases in evaporation, fire, extreme
rainfall and flooding events will increase
the uncertainty in planning both for
future availability of water and suitability
of agriculture in the region.
It is recommended upon revision of
the WAP that the risks and uncertainty
associated with climate change be given
more consideration. The consultation
process should attempt to engage the
local community and local business to
build capacity and help to share the
understanding of the potential impacts of
climate change; to translate uncertainty
into understandable terms so decisions
can be made about investments.
Improving Risk
Assessment
Using processes outlined in the ISO
31000:2009 Risk Management standard,
risk can be assessed and then potential
mitigation strategies.
Figure 2. Cyclical nature of policy development, impact assessment
and cost benefit analysis.
2
Rob Cossart, WA Department of Water Program Manager Water Resource Use and Management, Kimberley Region, Pers Comm, 11 April 2014.

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Conclusion
Over the last 100 years, water policy
in Australia has been shaped by the
imperative to supply water for irrigation
(Pigram, 1986; Powell, 1989; Smith,
1998). It is clear that this imperative
continues to drive water policy in the
northern parts of WA.
Western Australia’s current water
management legislation is under long-
awaited review. While the 2013 plan
has made significant improvements in
negotiation via extensive community
consultation and stakeholder
engagement, the findings of this
paper are that there is the potential to
improve even more in other aspects.
We note that some of the observations
made by Ayre 2008 remain valid,
particularly in relation to rigorous and
transparent trade-off analysis. For example,
the opening message from the Minister
for Water (DoW, 2013, p iii), “This Ord
surface water allocation plan supports,
first and foremost, water for existing and
new irrigation”, suggests that the value
of ecosystems and the social and cultural
benefits derived from them are not valued
as highly as those derived from irrigated
farmland. Although the plan attempts to
allocate water for sustainable outcomes, it
is unclear how equitable distribution and
efficient allocation will be achieved. Our
research was limited to non-Indigenous
consultation and further research is
required on the extent and efficacy of
Indigenous engagement in the current
water development in northern Australia.
Our findings are that the inclusion of
a risk assessment process that considers
economic, social and environmental
impacts of the plan would help to ensure
decision makers are aware of the broader
impacts that water allocations in the plan
may have on all stakeholders and help
to reduce risk to the natural capital of
the Ord. These findings are particularly
critical for the Australian Government’s
vision of opening up northern Australia
in conjunction with the governments of
Queensland, WA and the NT.
The Authors
Adam Turville (email: Adam.
Turville@MidCoastWater.
com.au) is a graduate of
the International Water
Centre’s Graduate
Certificate in Integrated
Water Management (Water Planning).
Adam currently works as a Project Officer
in the MidCoast Water planning team.
Susannah Cullen (email:
susannah.r.cullen@gmail.
com) is a graduate of
the International Water
Centre’s Graduate
Certificate in Integrated
Water Management (Water Planning).
Susannah currently works as a Water
Engineer and Project Manager for MWH
Global in London, UK. She has previously
worked in the water industry in Western
Australia, Victoria, New Zealand, and
as a volunteer with Engineers Without
Borders in Timor Leste.
Poh-Ling Tan (email:
p.tan@griffith.edu.au) is the
International Watercentre’s
Professor for Water Law
and Governance. Her
research focuses on water
reform and governance, particularly
in the intersections of law, social and
biophysical sciences.
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