Replace Cotton Farms with Hemp in the Murray-Darling Basin
By Mitch ‘Friendly Aussie Buds” January 2018
https://friendlyaussiebuds.com/cannabis-news/australian-cannabis-news/replace-cotton-with-
hemp-in-the-murray-darling-basin/
The Murray-Darling in Crisis
The Murray-Darling Basin, one of the most
crucial ecosystems in Australia, is facing a
tragic collapse after decades of rampant
exploitation and neglect.
The million-square-kilometre region accounts
for 41 per cent of Australia’s farm produce, as
well as 100 nationally significant wetlands.
These vital natural systems have been
routinely drained by irrigators since European
colonisation, leading to the gradual
degradation of the landscape.
Today, we see the visible consequences of
this long, drawn out, man-made disaster.
Notably, Menindee Lakes in New South
Wales has been everywhere on the news – but
for all the wrong reasons.
Many months ago, it was reported that the
rampant over-extraction of water by cotton
growers in the basin was causing the Darling
River to dry up, leaving its vital systems
practically dysfunctional.
The continual draining of Menindee lakes by
irrigators has brought about a full-blown
ecological disaster; since December of 2018,
there have been two massive fish die-offs in
the lake and its tributaries.
These recent incidents have rightly placed a
spotlight on the environmental
mismanagement of Australia’s largest river
system.
It is a story of decades of failed reforms,
backed up by ’13 billion dollars’ invested into
the MDBA (Murray Darling Basin Authority)
to prevent such a disaster.
Some $6 billion of this has been spent on
‘water recovery’, with $4 billion used to
subsidise irrigation infrastructure.
Whilst irrigation in the basin is clearly a huge
economic draw, it is also proving highly
destructive to our land, water, and wildlife in
the absence of reliable regulatory solutions.
Waterbird numbers have plummeted.
Entire forests of river red gums, black box
eucalypts and coolabah trees, now dying or
dead after being denied water for years.
Half of the native fish species are now
threatened.
As the rivers cease to flow, and as acidity and
salinity increases; so too, toxic blue-green
algae blooms become more commonplace.
Traditional owners of the land are lamenting,
as are community members who haven’t
joined in on the race to the bottom.
Tourism in the region has also been hit hard.
Until the ABC’s 4 Corners program in July
last year, many Australians were unaware of
alleged water theft and grossly deficient
compliance along the Darling River.
The situation on the ground is now being
broadcasted across the nation, however – and
it stands in stark contrast to the official view
that the system was doing just fine.
Water Mismanagement
The Millennium Drought at the turn of the
century already exposed Australians to the
basin’s alarming fragility.
Country towns ran out of water – not to
mention Adelaide, one of the primary hooch-
growing regions on the continent.