Future impacts of climate variability, climate changeand land use change on water resources in theMurray Darling Basin

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has nominated the impacts of climate change on water as a key issue for Australia. Under current climate, the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) is affected by large climate variability, high water-use as a proportion of total streamflow and competing demands for water. Climate change is expected to impact on runoff and streamflow, but large uncertainties have hampered planning of practical steps to manage these impacts