Reversing Riparianism
Clean me a River
Our November 2023 free Australian Water School webinar addressed river health; we had a look at some “Bad Rivers” around the world, including the Queen River, widely considered to be Australia’s most polluted waterway.
We were joined by filmmaker Beau Miles, who documented his rafting journey along the “biologically dead” river. Learn how eDNA technology is aiding our ability to diagnose river health and to protect waterways like the Queen River from similar fates; the interactive panel discussion addressed how the principles of riparianism threaten those prospects. View the webinar recording below:
Webinar details, including presentation slides, presenter background material, and other details are available here:
Beau’s video on Tasmania’s Queen River is the second of four videos in the Bad River series. The first, a kayak journey along a polluted urban river, is about to top 2 million YouTube views. The second highlights the consequences of acid mine drainage and is about to top 1 million views! Click below to watch Bad River Parts 1 and 2; you may well be the lucky 1 millionth or 2 millionth viewer!
These “bad rivers” are appalling examples of applied riparianism, a principle that allows those with an interest in land adjacent to a watercourse to use (or abuse) that resource. Whether the culprit is a mining company, a government, or a private landowner, the collective impacts of riparianism have created innumerable “Bad Rivers” around the planet.
With the understanding that examining mistakes of the past can help us avoid the future repetition of those mistakes – and to realise the potential benefits of collectively cleaning up our act – our webinar takes an alarming look at some disastrous legacies and discuss opportunities to change our course, re-defining riparianism into something more positive.
Bad Rivers Make Bad Oceans
Our live webinar will also feature podcaster Brad Dalrymple. Brad has interviewed a number of legends in the field looking out for our planet’s riparian resources on the OceanProtect podcast, winner of the 2023 Award for Excellence in Policy & Education issued by Stormwater Queensland.
We were fortunate to have both Brad and Beau participate in our 2022 Plastic Pollution webinar in which we highlighted Brad’s webinars about riverine plastic pollution and Beau’s experience filming Part 1 of the Bad River series.
Garbage without Borders
Can bottle redemption schemes help keep waste out of our rivers? Join Beau on an interstate journey in which he recreates an iconic Seinfeld episode:
Additional resources on plastic pollution and other topics covered during the webinar:
- Plastic pollution statistics: https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution
- Food impact statistics: https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impacts-of-food
- Livestock industry impact report: https://www.fao.org/3/a0701e/a0701e00.htm
- Healthy Land & Water (2022), Review of Erosion and Sediment Control in South East Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Healthy Land & Water.
- Effectiveness of bottle reuse schemes:
- https://theconversation.com/deposit-schemes-reduce-drink-containers-in-the-ocean-by-40-91897
- Economic incentives reduce plastic inputs to the ocean – Marine Policy. 2018. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0308597X17305377
- Watch the AWS webinar on contaminant spills in rivers, including a presentation of eDNA technology for assessing the ecological impacts of contaminant spill events:
What is riparianism, and why is it so pernicious?
Check out riparianism.com for a breakdown.
Please contact us for more information