Tweed Shire Council has overnight been recognised as one of 3 top leaders in global river management at the prestigious 21st Thiess International Riverprize for its work on the Tweed River.
Council was shortlisted as one of 3 finalists in the prize, which was last night awarded to the Africa Sand Dam Foundation for its work on the Thwake River in south-eastern Kenya. The other finalist was Friends of the Chicago River for their work on the Chicago River in the United States.
Established in 1999, the Thiess International Riverprize is awarded by the International River Foundation and recognises excellence in river management, restoration and building river resilience.
Some of the key elements for success in Riverprize include partnerships and collaboration, a whole-of-system and integrated approach, river leadership, embracing and piloting innovation, and adaptive, ecosystem-based projects.
Council has been working with a broad range of partners for more than 30 years on projects to increase the health of the Tweed River, following a series of devastating fish kills in the late 1980s.
Council’s river management program looks at all aspects of the river, from fish and platypus habitat to water quality and projects that support top order predators such as dolphins and osprey. Council also provides drinking water and wastewater services, and the facilities people use for river recreation.
Council’s Waterways Program Leader Tom Alletson said Council also supports sustainable agriculture and the protection of flora and fauna throughout the catchment area.
“Tweed Shire Council is possibly unique around the world in having a government boundary that matches the river catchment boundary. There are very few communities who have so much influence over and responsibility for a whole river system,” Mr Alletson said.
Mr Alletson said being recognised as a finalist in the International Riverprize was an endorsement of the program at the highest level.
“We are thrilled to be a finalist and this recognition reassures us that we are doing the right things in the right way,” he said.
“The acknowledgement doesn’t mean we have done all we need to do to restore the river, or guarantee its healthy future. We must redouble our efforts to be prepared for the serious challenges of climate change which will seriously impact the Tweed River and all of the values that we derive from it.
“I hope that hearing this news, the Tweed community can reflect on how lucky we are to have a fairly healthy Tweed River, but also to realise how easy it would be for the health of the river to decline if we don’t support the people and projects that protect it.
“We are uniquely positioned to be a world leader in river management. We have a prosperous and environmentally aware community, a government system with high levels of influence over all aspects of the waterways, and an ecosystem that is still, in most places, resilient and healthy. We need to show the world how it’s done because with this big head start if we can’t, then no-one can.”
The Thiess International Riverprize is awarded by the International River Foundation (IRF), a not-for-profit organisation that envisions a future where healthy, resilient rivers support thriving communities, ecosystems and economies.
