Australia's climate is characterized by highly variable rainfall. As a consequence, many aspects of riverine ecosystems need both very wet and very dry periods to function effectively. This contrasts with water demands from industrial and agricultural sectors, which place a premium on access to a constant supply of water. This combination of demands suggests there could be considerable value in using water banking and trading mechanisms to reduce the social cost of achieving environmental objectives. In this paper, the concept of counter-cyclical trading is outlined and influences on its potential for reducing the cost of achieving environmental flow objectives evaluated. The potential value of using mechanisms to enable counter-cyclical trading across low...
