Invaluable input gained through Regional Community Forums

The Forums are an important way to connect with Basin communities – helping us to communicate and share knowledge with community members, hear local insights and deepen our understanding of regional issues.

The Regional Community Forums represent the following regions:

Held virtually, the 6 sessions in March attracted diverse perspectives from across the Basin with further discussions planned for August and October this year.

Summary of topics discussed:

• Participants were provided with an update from the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) on the early findings from their consultation on the Restoring Our Rivers: Draft framework for delivering the 450GL of additional environmental water.
• The MDBA provided an update on the early thinking on the Basin Plan Review, ahead of the release of the Early Insights Paper at River Reflections in June. They also shared information on other key MDBA priorities such as the Evaluation, Sustainable Rivers Audit and Outlook and provided an operational update too.
• The MDBA Science Acquisition team provided a recap on the journey so far with the Forums’ participants dating back to July 2021 and how their feedback has been used to develop the Basin Condition Monitoring Program and contribute to the Sustainable Rivers Audit (SRA) and MDB Outlook.
• The team also led an interactive session seeking input into water community snapshots. These are products that will represent community-level social and economic conditions to help build understanding of communities at a local level.
• The University of Canberra ran a workshop on drivers of change, resilience and adaptation.

The next round of Forums will be held in August.