Lake Eyre Basin Rivers x with an average of less than 500 mm of rainfall each year. Sometimes water comes in a rush or flood, driven by intense rainfall in the catchments of the mighty rivers of the Lake Eyre Basin – Cooper Creek, the Diamantina and Georgina Rivers – and the many smaller tributaries such as Eyre Creek, Mulligan River and Neales River. I have tried to capture the ‘difficult’ word of sustainability through three sections in this book: a description of the Lake Eyre Basin environment the social, cultural and economic dimensions and, finally, looking after the rivers. In 2014, a partnership of people from the Lake Eyre Basin, including many of those who contributed to this book, won the Australian Riverprize in recognition of their effective protection of this wonderful river system. The following year, there was global recognition when the international community awarded the Lake Eyre Basin partnership the International Riverprize – the first time this had ever happened for protecting a river. This basin and its rivers are a national treasure in all dimensions, recognised globally. It’s incumbent on all of us to keep it this way.