# An interdisciplinary analysis of recreational birdwatching and wetland extent in the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia

## TL;DR

The study shows that improving wetland conditions in Australia's Murray-Darling Basin increases birdwatching visits and spending, offering environmental and economic co-benefits.

## Contribution

The novel contribution is identifying birdwatching visitation and expenditure as co-benefits of improved wetland ecological conditions.

## Key findings

- Birdwatcher visits and expenditure increase as wetland ecological condition improves.
- Combining citizen science data with surveys and interviews reveals co-benefits of environmental flows.
- Improved ecological conditions at wetland hotspots correlate with increased visitation.

## Abstract

To fulfill obligations under the Ramsar Convention and achieve the objectives of a National Biodiversity Strategy, the Australian Government has committed to improving the ecological characteristics of wetlands across the continental Murray-Darling Basin, Australia’s largest surface water resource. Allocating a portion of an increasingly climate-constrained water resource to environmental flows for this purpose necessitates careful evaluation of environmental and economic benefits. We combined a large citizen science dataset of birdwatching visitation over 72 consecutive months at ten Basin wetland birdwatching hotspots with spatiotemporal data on site-specific proxies of environmental and ecological condition. Using an interdisciplinary combination of regression analysis, citizen science data, an online birdwatchers’ survey and in-depth birdwatcher interviews, we found that improved ecological condition was associated with increased birdwatcher visitation. Our findings contribute to the policy debate by identifying increased birdwatching visitation and related expenditure as potential co-benefits of improving ecological condition at Basin wetland birdwatching hotspots.

•Birdwatcher visits and expenditure increase as condition of wetland sites improves•Citizen science birdwatching data combined with a birdwatcher survey and interviews•Contributes to policy debate around environmental flows by identifying co-benefits

Birdwatcher visits and expenditure increase as condition of wetland sites improves

Citizen science birdwatching data combined with a birdwatcher survey and interviews

Contributes to policy debate around environmental flows by identifying co-benefits

Ecology; Environmental management; Ornithology