Social Impact Assessment and Cross Cultural Negotiation

The report discusses the Social Impact Assessment and Cross Cultural Negotiations managed during the development of Murray Darling Basin Plan in Australia. It includes case studies, methodological considerations, and cultural negotiations managed for the plan.

Running head: SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND CROSS CULTURAL NEGOTIATION
Social Impact Assessment and Cross Cultural Negotiation
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1SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND CROSS CULTURAL NEGOTIATION
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Conceptual framework design.........................................................................................................2
Case study about social impacts assessment...................................................................................4
Methodological considerations........................................................................................................8
Cultural negotiations managed for the Murray Darling Basin Plan................................................9
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................13

2SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND CROSS CULTURAL NEGOTIATION
Introduction
The report is prepared to discuss about the Social Impact Assessment and Cross Cultural
Negotiations managed during the development of Murray Darling Basin Plan in Australia.
Among the various topics, the development of this plan is considered in the formal planning
systems and thus includes the various impacts created due to social factors and cross cultural
negotiations managed to ensure successful plan for the management of Murray Darling Basin.
Since the year 2009, the Authority and Government in Australia have taken joint authority and
hold responsibilities to conduct 22 commissioned studies and evaluate the social and economic
implications emerged from the Murray Darling Basin Plan in Australia (Vanclay et al., 2015).
The assessment of social impact will not only help in managing proper cultural negotiations, but
will also assist in the management of sustainability, contribute to the proper health and wellbeing
of the environment along with management of water, reducing pollution level and contributing to
the communities of the Commonwealth Government effectively. The report aims to study the
social impacts of the Murray Darling Basin plan and documents the organization that has
commissioned the plan and manages the scale and scope of the plan not only to create a positive
social impact but also ensure proper management of weather or climatic conditions. It will also
discuss about its impact on the irrigated agriculture along with maintaining the salinity or quality
of water to facilitate water trade and water pricing reforms based on the rate of returns in
agriculture and water salinity too (Raymond et al., 2014).

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Conceptual framework design
The conceptual framework is prepared to ensure that all the important aspects of the
Murray Darling basin plan are addressed. This would allow the stakeholders to adapt to changes
and make sure to prepare a good basin plan for creating positive social impacts and manage good
cultural negotiations as well. This will also help in achieving the objectives that the plan assumed
to achieve and thus an optimum balance between the demands for water resources has to be
achieved too. According to Vanclay, Baines & Taylor (2013), the Murray Darling Basin plan
development enables management of the resources of water, which is one of the major driving
factors associated with the economy of the Basin and other social characteristics as well which
has been a major factor driving the growth in economy of Australia (Vanclay, Baines & Taylor,
2013). The implementation of Murray Darling Basin Plan also involves maintaining a cleaner
and healthier environment through providing environmental benefits and reduces the costs of
managing the development plan; furthermore ensure that the plan is aimed at progressing
towards sustainable development to acquire environmental benefits. One of the major bodies
associated with the Murray Darling basin plan is the implementation of policies and program by
the Australian Government for reducing the costs of operations and engaging the agricultural
irrigators and local communities to gain additional scopes and opportunities to live a healthy life
(McDermott, Mahanty & Schreckenberg, 2013).
Objectives
The objectives are to manage good quality of soil and water in the area and ensure that
the local communities are benefited along with the creation of a positive impact on the
environment too. The Murray Darling Basin plan is prepared and managed by the Murray

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Darling Basin Authority with a vision or aim to manage a healthy and clean environment that can
support a diversified community and at the same time, enhance the production of food and fiber
through agricultural growth, thereby contributing positively to the society’s wellbeing and
forming a cleaner and healthier environment. This has been facilitated with the immense amount
of investments done from the application of initiative of Australian Government’s Water for the
Future and managing reforms as well for meet the social needs of people, though considering the
cultural factors as the Basin plan covers a huge amount of area. Baines, Taylor & Vanclay (2013)
argued that the basin covers nearly 15 percent of Australia and it holds account of 40 percent of
the agricultural production facilitated from the usage of water resources and at the same time,
enhancing the health and wellbeing of rivers, wetlands, food plains along with the plants and
animal habitats present in the location that has been covered by the Basin (Baines, Taylor &
Vanclay, 2013).
Case study about social impacts assessment
The social impacts are assessed to understand the effectiveness of the Murray Darling
Basin Plan and how it has contributed to the proper management of water along with creation of
a positive impact on the agricultural production n the adjoining areas. As stated by Adam &
Shirako (2013), the Australian Government and Authority believes that the Murray Darling
Basin plan has enabled improving the diversity of the health wet lands and the entire habitat such
as the river, flood plains and red gum forest along with preserving the assets that are present
within the Ramsar convention (Adam & Shirako¸2013). There are various species that are
dependent on proper supply of water such as the plants, fishes, birds and migratory birds who fall
under protection based on various International agreements and federal laws, rules and

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regulations. The Murray Darling Basin plan has improved the availability of water for these
species and ensured that they are protected to maintain the biodiversity of the place (Smith,
2014). It has also contributed to the social benefits by enhancing the hydrological or water
connectivity between the valleys, water bodies present there and through betterment of diversity
of the habitat, there has been consistent visits by migratory birds and animals, which has
enriched the beauty of the place. The flow of water has transferred salt and other useful nutrients
that are required to maintain the fertility of soil required to manage proper agricultural
production all throughout while the water quality is good and thus it makes it suitable for usage
by human beings (Matsumoto & Hwang, 2013).
The MDBA has been responsible for designing the proposed Murray Darling Basin plan
for understanding the social impacts that are to be derived and at the same time, obtain feedbacks
and responses from the authorities associated with the basin plan. The social impacts include
employment impacts, i.e., the employment scopes and opportunities created from the SDLs along
with income generated from the irrigation activities (Ribbink & Grimm, 2014). The social
impacts’ assessment and analysis are done by the MDBA, which has also identified the issues
associated with the basin such as cultural conflicts arising, social problems and unable to gain the
trust of people due to lack of ability to adopt the culture of the places.
One of the major social factors to be considered is the population in the Murray Darling
basin, which consists of more than 2 million individuals, most of whom are associated with the
fishing and irrigated agricultural activities that represent nearly 85 percent of the use of Basin
land along with usage for business purposes and employment opportunities accounting to more
than 32 percent and 11 percent respectively. Mor, Morris & Joh (2013) stated that there have

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been rapid changes to the agricultural and rural communities and due to this, the changes in
market conditions and economic reforms have created huge pressure on the producers of crops
through agricultural activities in the Murray Darling basin (Mor, Morris & Joh, 2013). To cope
up with the huge amount of pressure, bigger farm lands are grown and more workers are engaged
all together to improve the labour commitment level and ensure management of both social and
demographic changes to benefit the adjoining small and remote societies present near the basin.
Due to the businesses’ dependence on the basin and agricultural produces in the area; the
Millennium drought has not only affected the businesses, but also has created negative effects on
the communities and population, which further deteriorated the emotional health of people. The
impacts created from the drought constitute a major part of the social context for the
communities in Murray Darling Basin and enables the communities and businesses to adopt
changes (Glasson & Therivel, 2013). This should ensure that sufficient amount of water and its
resources are available for keeping abundant supply of water during the seasons when droughts
might be experienced.
The water resources obtained from the management of the basin hold importance are
highly valuable for contributing to the society and benefiting the 70,000 population at large. The
consumption of water is mainly because of the agricultural activities managed at the basin and it
shows that the production of cotton, fiber and food on an annual basis is also dependent upon the
climatic conditions. The rice crops production has excelled and the dairy industry has also been
benefited along with the horticulture’s influence contributing to the business management within
the agricultural industry along with availability of water resources, growth of production level
and efficient usage of water. The most important influence that has been created with the basin
plan is the wider economy conditions emerged with the consistent growth of agricultural

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production along with availability of sufficient water resources to facilitate the production value
(Wheeler et al., 2014). This has increased the gross domestic product or GDP of Australia and
enhanced the productivity to a large extent.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the population trends change from time
to time with the condition of the basin and according to the resources obtained from the
management of the basin. This has been a major factor that has facilitated the communities of the
Basin and even created employment scopes and opportunities for people in the businesses
managed there. The Government of Australian has been focused on maintaining a cleaner and
healthier environment and at the same time, enabled private capital, which has allowed the
people depending on agricultural activities to access the credit for managing the operations and
processes and create expansion of market to establish successful global business management
(Adger et al., 2013). With the population, mostly dependent on the water resources and
agricultural activities managed with the help of the Murray Darling Basin, the communities have
explored new ways to attract tourists and thus the eco tourism facilities, fishing activities and
boating are major activities managed. These activities are closely related to the culture of the
place and this has benefited the communities by making the place a natural attraction for the
tourists. As stated by Marshall, Connell & Taylor (2013), the tourism activities are facilitated
and the eco-tourism approaches have not only attracted tourists, but have also preserved the
ecological balance in nature by closely adopting the local culture and creating cultural
association with the irrigated agriculture (Marshall, Connell & Taylor, 2013). The environmental
flow towards the tourism industry has further expanded the scopes and opportunities for creating
more sources of revenue for the local people and adopting local culture to meet the needs of
people. From the evidences and researches, it was found that among all the places in the basin

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plan region, Murray employs the highest number of people, i.e., nearly 15000, which has
enhanced the rural agricultural employment and directly created an impact on the agricultural
production positively.
Methodological considerations
The methods used in the research are used for the purpose of evaluating the alternatives
and manage proper monitoring, evaluation and mitigation of issues that might be experienced
while researching on the subject related to the social impacts assessment and cultural
negotiations at Murray Darling basin. As it is known, social impact assessment is actually the
consequences generated based on the actions undertaken by the human beings, which can also
change the way people live, work or plat or organize their activities to meet the needs of people
by staying as a responsible member within the society. The assessment of social impacts also
include consideration of the cultural aspects and enable changes to the values, beliefs, norms and
practices managed by people within the community to support proper recognition of themselves
as a responsible individual within the community (Bark et al., 2015).
The participatory approach helped in engaging people altogether and obtain information
based on the responses provided by them while the interview sessions conducted also helped in
understanding the views and opinions of the individuals who are associated with the basin plan.
The major processes associated with the social impact assessment are related to the various
stages followed such as the scoping, profiling, predicting, evaluation, mitigation and finally
monitoring. The scoping stage enables identification of the issues associated with the social
impacts assessment based on various consultations and meetings with the involvement of
multiple individuals who are involved with the management of Murray Darling basin plan. The

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profiling stage enables the acquisition of data and information required to differentiate between
the changes constructed and impacts obtained within the community, furthermore create a scope
of interest about balancing the social, economic and environmental aspects properly (Pahl-Wostl
et al., 2013). The prediction stage has allowed for understanding the feasibility of the plan and
determined the efficiency of the social impacts, furthermore obtained expert feedbacks and
opinions while the evaluation stage has helped in determining the impacts and its acceptance.
The mitigation stage, as the name suggests, is focused on resolving the negative impacts
associated with the social impacts and progress on to the next stage, i.e., monitoring to ensure
that n such issues could occur again and deteriorate the successful implementation of strategies
to create positive social impacts (Jackson & Barber¸2013). The SEA integration techniques
include the cost benefit analysis that has evaluated the changes in ways water resources are used
and how it contributes to the conservation of the ecosystem and creating benefits for the
community as well.
Cultural negotiations managed for the Murray Darling Basin Plan
Due to the basin plan, there are many places that have been affected due to the
irrigational activities and the salinity of water has also created difficulty for many people to use it
for various purposes. Robinson et al. (2013) stated that it is always important to maintain proper
culture and adopt the local culture for facilitate the growth of businesses in the area and ensure
proper flow of culture (Robinson et al., 2015). The flow of culture is considered as a natural flow
and thus there is very less understanding about the requirements for usage of water. There were
several issues associated with the management and adoption of a healthy culture, which not only
created difficulties for people, but also created conflicts and misunderstandings due to which the

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businesses dependent on the basin plan were affected along with the adjoining communities
(Alston, 2013). The cultural governance has been considered as useful by the Aboriginal people,
which have differentiated between the cultural flow and flow of environmental aspects. Here the
values, beliefs, norms and rules are considered while making a decision and this has been
facilitated with the involvement of people within the community, who have followed these
values and helped I making the right cultural decisions . Few of the priorities included the
environmental watering considerations for the Commonwealth-held water and this was the role
of the MDBA while the decisions were made mostly made by the CEWH for engaging the
Aboriginal people to manage proper cultural flow and the consideration of environmental aspects
too (MacDonald, Bark & Coggan, 2014).
The cultural issues have been very much important for the implementation of the
different projects and plans. As it is the largest rivers system in Australia it covers a wide range
of area in the country and crosses over the regions where several types of people live. The water
is extracted for the irrigation work all over the country. However, the consequences are fatal and
it has led to the environmental degradation in a huge manner (Grafton & Connell, 2013). As per
the studies, it has been noticed the development of the water market is in the plans of the Federal
Government of Australia. The property right is an aspect that has to be dealt with much care in
the contemporary times (Hart, 2016). As per the historical evidence, the river system of Murray-
Darling can be considered as an integral source of water to the aboriginal people in the country.
This river system is being used for several purposes indeed. However, the need of water for the
aboriginal people is indeed one of the most important aspects.

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The ill effects of this Murray-Darling basin plan is understood when the aboriginal
people are kept out of the facilities gained by the market-based arrangements for the higher
benefits. The individual rights to the water or the water related entitlements could be considered
in this context (Grafton & Connell, 2013). The property rights approach has been considered as
one of the most important issues to look at the cultural insights into the matter. The expansion of
this Murray-Darling basin is around 3500 km from Queensland to the South Australia. More than
90% of water is used for the irrigation for the agricultural issues indeed. The property rights
framework is one of the most important frameworks for the proper understanding of the cultural
factors and the benefits of the Aboriginal people within the country (Grafton & Horne, 2014).
Around 3 million people in the country depend on this Murray-Darling basin for their agriculture
and production of foods (Wheeler et al., 2014). This basin is considered to be the home for more
than 50 types of aboriginal language groups or cultures. This is why it is very rich from the
cultural aspects as well. This Murray-Darling basin also has some environmental values to its
credit as well (Hart, 2016).
The water reform program will also be a very significant aspect regarding this issue. The
water rights in the country of Australia are regarded as the statutory rights (Grafton & Horne,
2014). The creation of the property rights could be treated as the basic necessity for developing
the water markets in general. The land titles and the water rights had been separated. This gave
birth to the policy of the tradable water in the country. The need for the water among the
indigenous land areas had not been recognized previously. This had caused a tumultuous
situation or scenario (Grafton & Connell, 2013). The treaty rights with the indigenous
aboriginals were not implemented and this was the main reason for the problems being caused.

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Conclusion
The Basin had been considered as effective for balancing the social, economic and
environmental outcomes, which has created convenience for the Government and regulatory
bodies to implement the Water Act, which promoted successful usage of the water resources. As
part of the social responsibilities, improving the environment health and wellbeing are also
considered as a major positive outcomes achieved through management of ecosystem services
and functions associated with the preservation of environment assets and focusing on reducing
the monetary implications, furthermore maintained a safe and clean environment without much
effects caused due to activities conducted by human presence in the Basin. The report was
prepared to focus on the social impacts assessment and cultural negotiations managed at the
Murray Darling basin plan and thus it could be seen that water resources were managed and at
the same time the communities present in the regions were benefited through greater
employment opportunities and tourism facilities made available for the people visiting there as
tourists too. The consideration of culture was managed to ensure successful negotiations to be
made and engage the Aboriginal people to facilitate the process of decision making, preserve the
resources and maintain proper environmental flow to the utmost level possible.

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