The Department for Environment and Water (DEW) has released a film to commemorated 10 years of recovery work to bring the Coorong and Lower Lakes back to life following the Millennium Drought.
In a statement, the Department said the short film, A decade of connection and healing, included interviews with local First Nations, community representatives, scientists, and Government.
It said the film told the story of just how severely the Coorong and surrounding areas had suffered over time and how better water management, research and collaboration between community and Government had produced gradual improvements to the Coorong and Lower Lakes.
Program Leader for the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth (CLLMM), Carol Schmidt said the film’s theme was one of connection.
“We want people to understand the plight of the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth and just how important continuous flow is along the River Murray Channel down to the Murray Mouth,” Ms Schmidt said.
“With this film, we wanted to tell the story of the impacts of increasing water consumption and over extraction amongst a changing climate, while celebrating the ecological, social, economic and cultural recovery that is slowly occurring at this iconic Ramsar wetland,” she said.
The Program Leader said the natural environment in the wetland had been recovering slowly with the help of water for the environment – water allocated purely to the environment and not for extraction – which had supported a range of ecological outcomes.
“A significant volume of water for the environment has been delivered to the Coorong over the last 10 years with the majority of flows being utilised across multiple wetlands upstream for various outcomes before being returned to the river, to meet further outcomes downstream,” Ms Schmidt said.
The short film can be accessed at this PS News link.
