Framework for future NRM programmes
Endorsed by the Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council
24 November 2006
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About this document
This paper proposes a framework for the future development of natural resource management (NRM) programmes across Australia. This framework is based on the common understanding of jurisdictions that:
- Significantly increased public benefits will flow from improved NRM;
- Natural systems are interlinked and particular interventions must be assessed in terms of their total impact on these systems;
- Specific investments can achieve multiple NRM outcomes;
- An adaptive management approach based on continuous learning should continue to underpin the delivery of NRM services;
- Future natural resource investment portfolios should reflect the priorities placed on key assets and the threats to them;
- Improving the ability of land managers to manage risk and incorporate NRM considerations into their management decisions is essential to successful NRM programmes, and a range of approaches should be used to build this capacity;
- Providing opportunity and building capacity among Indigenous people to contribute to shared NRM objectives will yield biophysical, cultural and socio-economic dividends and opportunities for collaborative whole-of-government approaches;
- There is a need to enhance monitoring and evaluation arrangements to ensure the effectiveness of programme delivery, and measure changes to resource conditions; and that
- An effective approach to NRM entails the application of a wide range of policy and programme responses, including capacity-building initiatives, grants, on-ground works and regulation, and is likely to entail an increased emphasis on the use of market-based instruments in the future.
Australia's environmental and productive natural resources are among its most precious assets. These resources provide the basis for the productive and ecological services that are fundamental to economic and community life and for the maintenance of a sustainable environment in urban and rural Australia and in Australia’s marine areas. Private and public managers and landholders manage these assets, and much good work is being done to protect, enhance and restore their quality. However, much more needs to be done across a range of issues to ensure that these assets remain sustainable. Particularly critical issues include the following:
- Terrestrial and marine species and their habitats need to be protected from critical threats, especially as the biological and economic value of these assets is likely to be increasingly important in the future;
- Salinity and water quality decline remains a major threat to land and water assets and future efforts need to capitalise on the progress already achieved to maintain an improving long-term trend;
- Coastal and peri-urban development pressures have major impacts on natural assets and, equally, catchment management practices in hinterlands directly impact on the amenity and value of these areas. The increasingly important issues generated within coastal and peri-urban areas need to be more effectively integrated into future NRM arrangements;
- The productivity of land is highly dependent on soil quality and its resilience to degrading processes - such as erosion, salinisation, acidification, soil structure decline and vegetation loss - that place the natural productivity of the Australian landscape at risk. Future NRM arrangements need to enhance our capacity to address the socio-economic impacts of these degrading processes; and
- Agriculture, biodiversity, marine, water and coastal assets all face threats from climate change and climatic variability which pose new challenges and exacerbate existing ones like invasive species and fire. Building the capacity of land and other natural asset managers to respond to these challenges and maintain sustainable production systems is an emerging and important NRM priority. The development of this capacity is closely related to the need to develop a better understanding of the impacts of climate change and climatic variability on the sustainability of biodiversity, agricultural assets, and other natural resources.
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