I am presently the Vice-Chairman of the International Lake Environment Committee and have occupied many other executive positions on national and international professional bodies concerned with the management and conservation of lakes. It is my considered professional opinion that plans to develop areas around the crater lakes of Camperdown are ill-advised and have grossly underestimated the values of these lakes both locally and in a wider perspective. Lakes add considerable aesthetic value to a region, the most so when presented within a landscape that is natural or at least non-urban. Many salt lakes are perceived as having high aesthetic values, including Mono Lake, California, and Lake Nakuru, Kenya. This value is not one to be lightly discarded or discounted and once lost is hardly ever recoverable.
Many salt lakes have large recreational values such as fishing, photography, bird-watching, sailing.
All these would be decreased by any urban development in those near Camperdown. Salt lakes are of particular interest to many scientific disciplines, not least because they are sensitive environmental indicators, have many endemic species, and are significantly different from freshwater lakes. Those near Camperdown have attracted much scientific interest in the past decades, an interest that can only grow as environmental pressures increase. The Western District lakes, as a group, have already been designated as Ramsar sites by the Federal government. The need for public environmental education scarcely requires any emphasis at the present time given the importance of global warming, pollution and other human impacts on the environment.