Since 2009, the CEWH has invested over $100 million in freshwater science across the Murray Darling Basin. The next phase of the CEWH’s science program, called Flow-MER, commenced on July 1 this year and will invest an additional $90 million over seven years.
Flow-MER is a partnership between the CEWH, seven universities, CSIRO and One Basin CRC, and involves more than 150 staff working across ten priority spatial areas. The program is the primary means by which the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder (CEWH) monitors and evaluates the delivery of Commonwealth environmental water in the Murray-Darling Basin. The work of Flow-MER supports environmental water managers, demonstrates outcomes, informs adaptive management, and fulfils the legislative requirements associated with managing Commonwealth owned environmental water.
The monitoring, evaluation and research undertaken through Flow-MER are critical to ensure that the use of Commonwealth environmental water achieves the best outcomes for rivers, wetlands and floodplains, as well as the animals, plants and people that depend upon them.
Flow-MER is the largest adaptive management science program in the Basin. It is unique in that it is strongly interdisciplinary, synthesising science from all components of the ecosystem, along with cultural knowledge and lived experience. It crosses borders, both scientifically and culturally, to optimise impacts of Commonwealth environmental water delivery. It is also unique in that it has longevity and permanency, which enables the identification of long-term trends and to sustainably plan under a changing climate.