Research Program
The Murray-Darling Basin faces an uncertain future as the long-term impacts of river regulation and over abstraction are increasingly exacerbated by the intensification of climate change. This poses profound challenges for water security, biodiversity and communities across the Basin, and forces transformational change for communities and management. There will be greater demand for water resources and, increasingly, trade-offs will need to be considered. Now more than ever, a strong evidence base is necessary to provide guidance in addressing the critical needs of community and management. The CLLMM region at the end of the Basin is among the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and requires science-informed actions to maintain social, economic, environmental and cultural values.
The CLLMM Research Centre’s Science Program provides critical knowledge to inform management of the region as climate change impacts become more acute. It considers the complex interdependencies that influence the region and helps to inform end-users in a way that best meets the needs of our rivers and wetlands, communities, industries and government agencies with their decision-making. The Science Program is strongly focused on reflecting community and First Nations values and priorities in the creation and implementation of the research projects. Under the overarching focus of climate change, the research of the CLLMM Research Centre aligns with the research themes established through previous engagement prior to the establishment phase of the Research Centre. These research themes are climate adaptation, ecosystem services, climate mitigation and threatened species and biodiversity.
Research Project News
Climate adaptation: determining the anticipated impacts of climate change on the region and identifying management actions to protect and enhance the ecological, social, cultural and economic values under future climate scenarios
Ecosystem services: establishing the social, economic, ecological and cultural values that the region supports, and identifying those that are critical to maintain into the future for a vibrant and prosperous CLLMM region
Climate mitigation: identifying solutions and new management interventions needed to oversee the ecological, social, cultural and economic values of the region
Threatened species and biodiversity: determining the immediate and future knowledge needs to inform management actions to maintain threatened species and biodiversity across the region
Foundational Scoping
Flagship
Knowledge Sharing & Capacity Building
How to read the project status updates?
Each project will have a project status diagram, like this one below. These will be updated every quarter and will be included on management reports, the website and relevant project updates.
This color matches the 'Research Theme' that the project belongs to, in this case 'Threatened Species & Biodiversity'.
This icon corresponds to each project. This icon is for the 'Iconic Species' project.
The shaded areas of the diagram represent the current stage of the project. Here, the planning and approval stage has been completed and the project is currently in the first portion of its delivery phase.
ABOUT US >
We are a new, collaborative partnership working to create locally-driven and inclusive knowledge creation and exchange to inform decision making in the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth region. We acknowledge people of the Ngarrindjeri and First Nations of the South East as traditional owners of the region in which we work.
The Goyder Institute for Water Research will receive $8 million from the Australian Government over 4 years from 2023-26 to work with communities to investigate the impacts of climate change on the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth (CLLMM) region.
The Goyder Institute for Water Research is a research partnership of the South Australian Government through the Department for Environment and Water, CSIRO, Flinders University, the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia.