The Murray–Darling Basin Plan was established with the objective of restoring water from irrigation to the environment, thereby conserving wetlands and biodiversity. We examined whether the Plan is achieving this objective by assessing whether environmental watering has helped conserve threatened flow-dependent fauna. Two frog species, two waterbirds and four fishes, were assessed for their conservation status in relation to (1) whether they were targeted in environmental watering plans, (2) whether population monitoring had occurred and (3) evidence of population recovery. We determined indicators of abundance and occurrence of species between 2012–13 and 2018–19 and found widespread inconsistencies in the targeting of environmental watering for these species, including their being overlooked in watering plans and actions in several catchments. Environmental watering had some positive outcomes for some threatened species in some locations on some occasions, but benefits, and their monitoring and reporting, are patchy and inconsistent. Monitoring of temporal trends in distribution, occurrence and abundance of species is inadequate to evaluate success. If the Plan is to achieve its objective and uphold Australia’s international environmental treaty obligations, more needs to be done to target and deliver environmental water for threatened species and improve the monitoring and reporting of outcomes.

墨累-达令河流域计划的制定是为了将灌溉中的水恢复到环境中，从而保护湿地和生物多样性。我们通过评估环境浇水是否有助于保护受威胁的依赖流量的动物，来检查该计划是否实现了这一目标。评估了两个青蛙物种（两个水鸟和四个鱼）的保护状况，涉及以下方面：（1）是否将它们作为环境灌溉计划的目标；（2）是否进行了种群监测；（3）种群恢复的证据。我们确定了2012-13年至2018-19年之间物种丰富度和发生率的指标，发现在针对这些物种进行环境浇水的目标方面存在广泛的不一致之处，包括在一些流域的浇水计划和行动中忽略了它们。在某些情况下，环境浇水对某些地区的某些受威胁物种有一些积极的成果，但其收益及其监测和报告是零散的和不一致的。监测物种分布，发生和丰富度的时间趋势不足以评估成功。如果该计划要实现其目标并履行澳大利亚的国际环境条约义务，则需要做更多的工作来针对受威胁物种并为其提供环境水，并改善对结果的监测和报告。物种的发生和丰度不足以评估成功。如果该计划要实现其目标并履行澳大利亚的国际环境条约义务，则需要做更多的工作来针对受威胁物种并为其提供环境水，并改善对结果的监测和报告。物种的发生和丰度不足以评估成功。如果该计划要实现其目标并履行澳大利亚的国际环境条约义务，则需要做更多的工作来针对受威胁物种并为其提供环境水，并改善对结果的监测和报告。