Evolution of a river management industry in Australia reveals meandering pathway to 2030 UN goals

Collaboration, diversity and interdisciplinarity have increased in the Australian river management industry but more community participation and adaptive management is needed, according to a structured review and topic modelling of content from the 1996-2021 national stream management conferences. Globally, river management is a multi-billion-dollar industry. The United Nations (UN) Decade of Ecosystem Restoration calls for accelerated action towards integrated, participatory, and adaptive water resources management. Here we test whether the required shifts are occurring in the Australian stream management industry, an environmental management industry in a developed western nation. We undertook structured review and topic modelling of 958 peer-reviewed papers presented at the national stream management conference from 1996-2021. We investigated trends in collaboration, transdisciplinary knowledge, diversity of input and perspectives, adaptive management, interaction with policy, and responses to natural events. We found that the industry has matured over the past 25 years, with increasing collaboration, diversity and interdisciplinarity. However, there was no measurable increase in on-ground community participation or use of adaptive management. The findings highlight opportunities for the industry to mature further to achieve UN 2030 goals for integrated water resource management and ecosystem restoration.

Automated summary

Collaboration, diversity, and interdisciplinarity have increased in the Australian river management industry, but community participation and adaptive management have not seen significant growth. A structured review and topic modelling of content from national stream management conferences from 1996-2021 were conducted to assess these trends. The industry has shown maturity over the past 25 years, but there is room for improvement in achieving UN 2030 goals for integrated water resource management and ecosystem restoration.