ABSTRACT
Occasionally, the water right itself is relied on in order to perform key protective functions, 1 and water rights are acquired for environmental watering to a greater or lesser extent in all four jurisdictions, with variations as to the extent to which those purchases are coupled with water planning safeguards. Environmental watering activities have been established as legitimate uses, and transfers supported by public and private finance. One of the key decisions to be made under MEWA frameworks is to determine which entity is to acquire and/or hold environmental water entitlements, for example public or private actors; state agencies or independent statutory agencies. In this regard, the availability of public funding, or lack of, is a key determinant in relation to strategies for both recovery and the selection and/or enabling of actors to deliver environmental water, 2 as well as the need to manage the risk of undersupply of environmental water by private actors. 3 The range of ‘funding technologies’ that have been developed in order to facilitate environmental water transactions will be discussed specifically in Chapter 7 . In this chapter, I will focus on the division of responsibilities between, and functions of, public and private actors in relation to the purchase of water rights for the environment.
