On 8 October 2010, the MDBA released a major document entitled the "Guide to the Proposed Murray-Darling Basin Plan" outlining a plan to secure the long-term ecological health of the Murray-Darling Basin. The guide introduced cutting existing water allocations and increasing environmental flows. The proposed plan was the first part of a three-stage process to address the problems of the Murray-Darling Basin; namely, over-allocation, prolonged drought, natural climate variability and climate change, leading to deteroriation of rivers, wetlands, forests and floodplains in the basin.