Tropical Rivers

Australia's tropical rivers - an integrated data assessment and analysis

A project funded under the Natural Heritage Trust II and Land & Water Australia's Tropical Rivers Program

Sustainable management of the future development of Australia's tropical rivers and wetlands will require an integrated information base for assessment of their ecological character, status and change, and the development of policy, especially for environmental flows and potential uses of water. To progress towards this goal, a three year project titled Australia's tropical rivers - an integrated data assessment and analysis, more commonly referred to as the Tropical Rivers Inventory and Assessment Project, or TRIAP, was initiated in mid 2004. Funded by the Natural Heritage Trust II and Land & Water Australia, the TRIAP consists of three Sub-projects:

1. Inventory of the biological, chemical and physical features of aquatic ecosystems - undertake a multiple-scale inventory of the habitats and biota of the rivers and wetlands of tropical Australia, where necessary developing and/or ensuring consistency with other suitable typologies based on hydrological and landform features;
2. Assessment of the major pressures on aquatic ecosystems - undertake risk assessments of the major pressures on the habitats and biota of the rivers and wetlands of tropical Australia; and
3. Development of a framework for the analysis of ecosystem services provided by aquatic ecosystems - provide a framework for analysis of the ecosystem services (e.g. provision of water for multiple uses), provided by the habitats and biota of the rivers and wetlands of northern Australia.

The overarching aim of the TRIAP is to establish an integrated information base and framework, built on consultation and analysis of existing information, for assessing status and change of Australia's tropical rivers.

The TRIAP is a collaboration between the Environmental Research Institute of the Supervising Scientist (eriss) of the Supervising Scientist Division and James Cook University, with additional contributions from The University of Western Australia and Charles Darwin University.

The outputs and outcomes of the TRIAP will contribute to other initiatives currently underway in tropical Australia, namely the Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowledge Research Hub  and the Northern Australia Water Futures Assessment. SSD is specifically contributing to Themes 1 and 4 of the TRaCK suite of projects.

For further information on the TRIAP, download the project summary and project scope or view the various other publications and reports that have been produced throughout the project. Final reports of the three TRIAP Sub-projects should be available in late 2007.

• Project summary (PDF - 136 KB)
• Project scope (PDF - 150 KB)