Ground water security critical for food security.

6 Aug 2024. Michael Guerin, AgForce CEO

Just last week AgForce concluded a significant chapter of our relentless campaign in seeking and gaining far stronger protections for the Great Artesian Basin.

This battle should not have got as far or be as difficult as it is – given the potentially disastrous environmental implications that have been obvious from the start. 

Australia is the driest continent on earth but is incredibly blessed to have the largest underground water resource in the world. However, that resource - the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) - is not protected anywhere near adequately.

Our campaign highlights a broader issue around food security.  For a long time, Australia has been largely self-contained as it relates to food security and supply, our supermarket shelves overflowing (with a brief exception during COVID pandemic times) with a plentiful supply of locally grown and healthy food. 

Groundwater, including but not limited to that in the Great Artesian Basin, is not only critical to the environment but to that food security and supply which we have largely taken for granted. 

It raises the question, are we putting at risk the very resource we need for food security itself through activities such as Carbon Capture and Storage and Coal Seam Gas extraction projects? 

AgForce has a very clear policy position on land and resource use designed to protect that food security, and at its heart is the ‘precautionary principle’.  That is to say, if there is a risk of ruining a precious resource such as ground water, we should complete further exploratory work before undertaking an activity that might put - for example – put those ground water reserves so critical to food production at risk.

Hydrogeologists and others have warned of the potential harm to groundwater from such activities.  

As we head into a federal election in a few short months, we will be looking for all parties to commit to appropriate protections that better ensure Australia’s ongoing food security.  Putting an appropriate Water Trigger in the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act would be an excellent start.