The annual water flow in the Murray-Darling Basin in Southern Australia is less than one daily flow in the entire Amazon River in Brazil. Despite this, the basin is the biggest and most important river system in Australia.
The Goulburn and Broken rivers occupy only 2% of the Murray-Darling Basin, yet their combined region provides 11% of the total basin flow. Three people from the Dniester River Basin in Eastern Europe took part in a twinning exchange to the Goulburn-Broken Catchment Authorities in southern Australia to learn the Australian approach to water management. The team included Ms. Iryna Ovcharenko (Head of the State Water Agency of Ukraine), Mr. Radu Cazacu (Deputy Head of the State Water Agency of the Republic of Moldova), and Ms. Tamara Kutonova (Regional Coordinator of the Dniester GEF project in the OSCE).
The Goulburn-Broken Basin is utilised in the watering of numerous orchards and wineyards, pastures of cows, sheep and horses, in the production of electricity, and in the supply of drinking water. Kangaroos and platypuses are common inhabitants of the area, and people enjoy water sports, fishing and other recreational activities. The region is also the home of the Yorta Yorta nations, an indigenous Australian people consisting of various tribes.
Part of the tour was visiting a popular ski resort at Mount Buller where the Goulburn River starts. The managers of such ski resorts have understood how crucial slope vegetation is in sustaining the snow. If the snow melts slowly, it will feed into the river downstream for a longer period, and thus the vegetation is carefully managed by environmental managers. A part of this approach includes using a part of the resorts revenues on the vegetation management.
The Goulburn-Broken Catchment Authority was established in 1997. The team of 60 members run a number of projects as well as provide grants for stakeholders to improve the state of the river and broader catchment. The slogan of the Authority is:
“Heathy River. Resilient Productive Landscapes. Vibrant communities”
It reflects a fine balance between economy, society and the environment. Moreover, it has been recognized by the international community, and awarded the International River Prize by the renowned International River Foundation.
A significant difference between European and Australian approaches to basin management plans is that the initial focus of the EU (via the Water Framework Directive) is on water quality, while in Australia the focus is on maintenance of ecosystems due to overextraction of water for irrigation.
Basin planning is based on the rivers ability to be resilient enough to restore and carry on after multiple stresses, including urbanization and climate change. It is based not only on environmental state, but covers economic (e.g. irrigation, husbandry) as well as sociological aspects.
Below is a video showing how the Goulburn-Broken Catchment Authority work to create "healthy waterways for everyone":
The team left Australia feeling inspired and with many new ideas to be shared with their colleagues at home. In the future they hope to introduce similar methods to the water management both locally in the Dniester River Basin and on nationally.
Technical details and experinces of the study tour are available here.
For more information on this, please contact Tamara Kutonova.
This twinning exchange is part of the GEF IW:LEARN's twinning exchange program, for more information on this please click here.
© 2026 IW:LEARN
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