Natural resource management in NSW
Introduction
In 2003 the NSW Government launched a new era of natural resource management (NRM). Thirteen community-driven catchment management authorities (CMAs) were established to deliver natural resource programs at the regional level across NSW.
An independent Natural Resources Commission (NRC) was formed in 2003. The NRC made recommendations to the Government in 2005 on statewide standards and targets to guide the work of the CMAs (NRC 2005). The recommendations included a statewide standard for quality NRM, and 13 statewide targets (see Table A2.1). The NSW Government adopted the standard and targets in 2006.
The NSW Government's statewide standard (NRC 2005) sets out seven auditable outcomes of good NRM process, including:
- using best available information (such as scientific, financial, values of stakeholders) to inform decision-making
- considering scale (spatial, temporal and institutional) to ensure the delivery of integrated outcomes and maximise effective contributions
- pursuing opportunities for collaboration to maximise gain, share costs and deliver multiple benefits
- implementing strategies to meaningfully engage the community in the planning, implementation and review of NRM strategies
- considering risks (environmental, economic, social, cultural and institutional) and impacts to apply a risk-management approach to decision-making that minimises adverse impacts
- using appropriate monitoring protocols to ensure quality, timely and useful data for evaluating progress towards targets
- managing information to meet user needs and satisfy security, accountability and transparency requirements.
The statewide targets describe the State's goals to maintain and improve the fundamentals of a healthy landscape, as well as some specific State priorities that contribute to the achievement of these goals. The NSW Government's over-arching aspirational goal is 'resilient, ecologically sustainable landscapes functioning effectively at all scales and supporting the environmental, economic, social and cultural values of communities'.
Table A2.1: Statewide targets for natural resource management
1 |
By 2015 there is an increase in native vegetation extent and an improvement in native vegetation condition |
2 |
By 2015 there is an increase in the number of sustainable populations of a range of native fauna species |
3 |
By 2015 there is an increase in the recovery of threatened species, populations and ecological communities |
4 |
By 2015 there is a reduction in the impact of invasive species |
5 |
By 2015 there is an improvement in the condition of riverine ecosystems |
6 |
By 2015 there is an improvement in the ability of groundwater systems to support groundwater-dependent ecosystems and designated beneficial uses |
7 |
By 2015 there is no decline in the condition of marine waters and ecosystems |
8 |
By 2015 there is an improvement in the condition of important wetlands, and the extent of those wetlands is maintained |
9 |
By 2015 there is an improvement in the condition of estuaries and coastal lake ecosystems |
10 |
By 2015 there is an improvement in soil condition |
11 |
By 2015 there is an increase in the area of land that is managed within its capability |
12 |
Natural resource decisions contribute to improving or maintaining economic sustainability and social wellbeing |
13 |
There is an increase in the capacity of natural resource managers to contribute to regionally relevant NRM |
CMAs are including catchment targets in their catchment action plans (CAPs) which are consistent with the statewide targets. By monitoring progress towards these targets, CMAs and other government agencies can adjust their management to ensure that the targets are achieved.
Draft NSW Natural Resource Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Strategy
With the adoption of the statewide natural resource targets, the Government also decided that a mechanism for consolidated reporting against all the statewide NRM targets be established and combined with State of the Environment (SoE) reporting.
The Government worked over 2005 and 2006 to develop both a new system to align reporting on the statewide NRM targets with SoE reporting, and a draft NSW NRM Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting (MER) Strategy to support the new approach.
The purpose of the MER Strategy is to refocus the resources of NSW natural resource and environment agencies and coordinate their efforts with CMAs, local governments, landholders and other natural resource managers to establish a system of monitoring, evaluation and reporting on natural resource condition. That system will:
- make best use of existing resource condition information to inform policy and investment decisions and best practice management by all natural resource managers across NSW
- help NSW agencies to lead the integration of currently disparate monitoring programs and information sources relevant to particular NSW Government statewide natural resource condition targets
- measure progress against the NSW Government's statewide natural resource condition targets
- measure progress against some catchment NRM targets
- continue to enable NSW to report on the state of the environment
- provide the regional NRM information for local government SoE reports
- provide NSW monitoring data to the National Land and Water Resources Audit.
The MER Strategy has been developed by the Natural Resources and Environment CEO Cluster, following a review of existing programs to ensure that agencies can continue to meet statutory and other monitoring commitments and keep within current budget constraints.
Natural resource MER requirements
The MER Strategy is expected to provide access to resource condition data, with periodic formal reports evaluating that data, to inform the policy, investment and best practice management decisions made by the Government, agencies, CMAs, local governments, Landcare groups, landholders and other natural resource managers across NSW.
Periodic monitoring and evaluation reports that present this information will include:
- the SoE report, produced every three years, which will assess progress towards statewide targets using the current Pressure–State–Response model (Audit Office of NSW 2005) and also continue to assess other non-NRM environmental issues such as Toward Environmental Sustainability, Atmosphere and Human Settlement
- 'State of the Catchment' reports, which will use information collected for a range of programs, including the SoE report, and data from other sources. These will:
- provide a preliminary assessment of the condition of natural resources in each catchment
- inform investment decisions within and between CMA regions
- inform other natural resource managers of investment decisions in each region
- assess progress towards catchment targets.
In addition to resource condition information, other progress-reporting mechanisms include:
- CMA annual reports on progress towards catchment and State targets for the NSW Ministers for Natural Resources and Environment, the Joint Steering Committee on the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality, and the Natural Heritage Trust
- NRC's annual reports and periodic audits of whether CMAs are effectively implementing their CAPs and making progress towards catchment and statewide targets.
The aim is to develop open-access integrated databases across all resource theme areas to ensure decision-makers can make use of available information as it emerges, and contribute to the ongoing improvement of that information.
Resource condition monitoring
The draft MER Strategy lists proposed statewide monitoring programs to be implemented, and additional monitoring programs that may be implemented if funding becomes available. It identifies lead agencies for each monitoring program. Agency and CMA monitoring programs will be coordinated to gain maximum use of data sets and to minimise costs.
Over time, it is intended to increase the number of indicators monitored statewide to gain a more complete understanding of changes in natural resource condition. It is also planned to develop indices that describe in simple terms the overall health of natural resources. Indices combine the monitoring results for a number of indicators into a single measure that summarises whether or not the condition of the resource is improving. The key indices to be developed (with lead agencies shown in brackets) are:
- Biodiversity index (DEC)
- Riverine condition index (DNR)
- Groundwater index (DNR)
- Near-shore marine condition index (DPI)
- Wetland condition index (DEC)
- Estuary condition index (DNR)
- Land and soil capability assessment index (incorporating soil condition) (DNR)
- Index of contributions to socio-economic outcomes (DPI)
- Index of community capacity (DNR).
Performance monitoring
To evaluate the effectiveness of NRM programs, it is proposed that a statewide joint CMA–agency research program will be established.
Data analysis protocols will be established which describe how data will be interpreted. In particular, these protocols will outline the statistical methods to be used, how progress towards targets will be evaluated, and methods and data sets necessary for attributing causes to the effects observed.
Reporting
Future NSW SoE reports will see some of the indicators for land, water and biodiversity replaced by those described in the MER Strategy. This will occur in stages as data becomes available. Some current SoE indicators for the Land, Water and Biodiversity themes may continue to be reported.
As well as including new indicators, future NSW SoE reporting will be directly linked to forward-planning and priority-setting processes for the NSW Government. Lead agencies with responsibility for indicators will prepare a response report to the issues and information contained in the SoE report on their indicators. This report will be tabled in Parliament within six months of the release of the SoE report. Agency actions within the response report will be used to inform agencies' annual Results and Services Plans.
Quality assurance
An independent quality assurance process, performed by the State of the Environment Advisory Committee (SEAC), will be used to ensure that the monitoring and reporting system is transparent and its results credible.
SEAC will provide an independent review to assure that the processes, protocols and procedures undertaken to complete the data assessment are rigorous, transparent and appropriate given the information and resources available. The assurance role will also include an assessment of the currency of the data and information reported, and the objectivity of the analysis to ensure the production of an impartial report.
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