However, as previously outlined, many of the
human alterations to aquatic ecosystems and catchments, such as habitat alteration, water extraction,
sedimentation, the construction of barriers, overfishing and the introduction of invasive species, have
reduced this natural capacity to recover from drought.
Again we would emphasise that a restored capacity to
withstand natural disturbances is widely regarded as
an important measure of restoration success (Bond &
Lake, 2005a; Jansson et al., 2005; Palmer et al.,
2005). Thus, proactive strategies that address these
problems, such as restoration in catchments and
riverbank zones; provision and maintenance of refuge
habits; some degree of flow in systems where much
water is extracted; fish-passes to allow movement of
fish around constructed barriers in the system, and the
identification and active conservation of valuable
ecosystems and particular biota, all contribute in
minimising the impacts of drought. Already much
investment is occurring in these forms of restoration
across large areas of Australia, although arguably future efforts will need to be better coordinated and
occur at larger scales in order to achieve ecological
sustainability. In any case, the present drought has
served to illustrate the fact that we are yet to
adequately address many of these issues at the right
time and at the appropriate spatial scale.