Wetland Management
New Ramsar Site in NSW - The Paroo River Wetlands
Source: NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change
www.environment.gov.au/water/publications/environmental/wetlands/paroo-river-factsheet.html
Introduction
The Paroo River Wetlands in NSW are the latest addition to the list of internationally important wetlands recognized under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. These magnificent wetlands become Australia’s 65th Ramsar site.
Where are the wetlands?
The Paroo Ramsar site is in far northwest NSW within the Murray Darling Basin and the Great Artesian Basin. The Ramsar wetland site does not encompass all of the Paroo country, but includes the Nocoleche Nature Reserve (approximately 180 km west of Bourke) and part of the Paroo-Darling National Park (240 km south west of Bourke). Its total area is 138,304 ha.
Paroo River at Nocoleche, by Sarah-Jane Hackett, DECC
The Nocoleche Nature Reserve protects temporary and permanent floodplain wetlands while the Ramsar listed component of the Paroo-Darling National Park includes the freshwater lakes, Peery and Poloko.
Peery Lake. Photo by Alison Curtain, DECC.
Aboriginal Owners of Paroo Country
The Aboriginal owners of the Paroo country are the Baakandji and Budjiti people. The Paroo River Ramsar wetlands are of great cultural, natural and spiritual significance and the traditional owners have a vital role in their management. A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed by the Baaakandji and Budjiti people and the National Parks managers of the Ramsar site, to recognize the input of the traditional owners in the site’s nomination and establish a mechanism for their ongoing management in the wetlands.
Aboriginal artifacts found at the site. Photo by Megan Goulding
Ecological Values of the Ramsar site
The Paroo River wetlands are an integral component of the Paroo River catchment, a unique system of its own right. The river is the last remaining free-flowing river in the northern Murray-Darling Basin and much of the time it is dry, connected only by a series of turbid pools. During flood events the river and its floodplain are covered with water and the system explodes with life, supporting a high diversity of water dependent plants and animals.
The Paroo River Ramsar Site is one of the most important wetland systems for waterbirds in eastern Australia – supporting threatened species including painted snipe and freckled ducks.
The artesian mound springs at Peery Lake are the largest active complex in New South Wales. Mound springs are an uncommon landform and those found at Peery Lake are home to the nationally threatened Salt Pipewort, one of the rarest vascular plants in New South Wales.”
Ramsar listing will help protect the wetlands
Ramsar listing of these internationally significant wetlands will protect them as a matter of national environmental significance under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act,1999. Ramsar sites are protected as matters of national environmental significance under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, and any new activity that might affect the ecological character of the site must be referred to the Minister for Environment and Water Resources for consideration.
The new Water Act 2007 also gives effect to Australia’s Ramsar Convention obligations, and Ramsar sites in the Murray-Darling Basin will be high priorities for the use of environmental water managed under the Act.
The New South Wales and Queensland Governments have also signed an agreement to manage the Paroo River cooperatively. Under this agreement, both Governments will work together to maintain the natural water flows in the Paroo River system.
The Ramsar Convention
The Convention on Wetlands, also known as the Ramsar Convention, was signed in February 1971 and provides a framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources.
