New Research on Landscape Rehydration published

Congratulations to Louise Duff, MidCoast Council Catchment Manager, on her fantastic thesis ‘From Landscape Rehydration to water resilient farming: Supporting practice change’.  

Louise undertook the Master of Integrated Water Management at the International Water Centre, Griffith University, and was co-supervised by Mulloon Institute’s Laura Fisher. Her thesis was awarded a High Distinction, an outstanding result! It brings together an extensive review of scientific literature as well as interviews with farmers and professionals in the field.  

Louise’s key findings include: 

  • The innovators and early adopters of Landscape Rehydration have diverse aspirations across social, economic and environmental dimensions 

  • Farmers are using Landscape Rehydration to solve a range of problems including drought resilience, land degradation and wet and dry extremes 

  • They are using site-specific, holistic programs of integrated practices to improve hydrology, native vegetation, soil, grazing and pasture management from top to bottom of their farms 

  • Landscape Rehydration has good trial-ability with small-scale, low risk interventions achieving observable relative advantage across production and environmental indicators; cost-benefit is more difficult to quantify 

  • For farming to transition to more nature-based, regenerative and water resilient practices, an enabling environment and removal of barriers will need to happen at multiple scales. 

The thesis can be downloaded here, and we hope it will be read and shared widely! We wish the ever-tenacious Louise all the best with her future work, knowing that she now brings terrific expertise to the projects she is pursuing in the Manning River Catchment.  

Louise passes on her thanks to the farmers and NRM practitioners who participated in her research project, sharing their knowledge and experience. 

Laura Fisher co-supervised Louise Duff’s thesis as part of Mulloon Institute’s Landscape Rehydration Education Project, which is supported by the NSW Environmental Trust.  

Louise Duff at a workshop in the Capertee Valley, 2021, co-hosted by TMI and Kandos School of Cultural Adaptation. Photo by Alex Wisser.

Louise Duff. Photo by Leanne Thompson

Cass Moore