national land and water resources audit a p r o g r a m o f t h e n a t u r a l h e r i t a g e t r...
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National Land and Water Resources AuditA p r o g r a m o f t h e N a t u r a l H e r i t a g e T r u s t
National Land & Water Resources Audit
1997 to 2008
Blair Wood, Executive Director, 2003-2008
Warwick McDonald, Technical Director, 1998-2002
Colin Creighton, Executive Director, 1997-2002
Our PhilosophyOur Philosophy
1. Get the question right
2. Get the right information
3. Get the science right
4. Deliver benefits and legacy
Build the infrastructure for Build the infrastructure for continuing assessmentcontinuing assessment
What is the…health and trend of Australia’s natural resources?effectiveness of program investments in nrm?
If we want to be able to undertake successive assessment of the condition of our natural resources and assess why they are changing
• What information do you need to collect?• Getting agreement to collect• How do you manage it?• How do you report condition and trend?
Audit 1 Audit 2
What information to collect?What information to collect?
– Extent indicators –national baselines:• Vegetation extent (2004 ), Wetlands Extent (2007),
Extent of weeds (2007), Invasive vertebrates (2007), Extent of Coastal Habitat, Land use – 2001, 2006, Regional institutional capacity (2007)
– Condition Indicators• National Vegetation Assessment 2007/2008), River
Condition, Wetlands Condition, Estuarine and Coastal indicators and reporting, Social and Economic Information Framework, Biodiversity indicators
– Developed indicator methodologies• Soil condition, Salinity
M&E indicators
Information ManagementInformation Management‘‘Information for NRM is a National Asset’Information for NRM is a National Asset’
• Getting agreement• Supporting Information Hubs
(ASRIS, Ozesturies OzCoast, NVIS, Land Use)• Atlas and Library• Building Capacity – Information BMP Tool kit• Pushing the envelope –Interoperability
(Water information, vegetation)
Toward a National Environmental Information System
National Land and Water Resources AuditA p r o g r a m o f t h e N a t u r a l H e r i t a g e T r u s t
Surface water - use & allocationWATER
National Land and Water Resources AuditA p r o g r a m o f t h e N a t u r a l H e r i t a g e T r u s t
Water Implications
• Surface management areas
• Groundwater management units
• Sustainable yields definitions & assessment
• Buy-back process initiated (Namoi)
Water allocation on the map
WATER
National Land and Water Resources AuditA p r o g r a m o f t h e N a t u r a l H e r i t a g e T r u s t
Groundwater flow systemsWATER
National Land and Water Resources AuditA p r o g r a m o f t h e N a t u r a l H e r i t a g e T r u s t
Groundwater Implications
• Response time to impact
• Management options for intervention
• Economics for effective investment
• PMSEIC leading to…
National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality
WATER
National Land and Water Resources AuditA p r o g r a m o f t h e N a t u r a l H e r i t a g e T r u s t
Vegetation clearance - a live issueVegetation
National Land and Water Resources AuditA p r o g r a m o f t h e N a t u r a l H e r i t a g e T r u s t
Vegetation Implications
• National Vegetation Information System
• Vegetation clearance account for past actions and remnants
• Legacy – baseline for evaluation
The ‘naked’ truth
Vegetation
National Land and Water Resources AuditA p r o g r a m o f t h e N a t u r a l H e r i t a g e T r u s t
Rangelands cover 75% of Australia
Ghost gums, Hammersley National Park, Western AustraliaPhoto: Australian Picture Library/Owen Hughes
Rangelands
National Land and Water Resources AuditA p r o g r a m o f t h e N a t u r a l H e r i t a g e T r u s t
Rangeland Implications
• Unique Australian asset
• Rigorous monitoring system
• Desert Knowledge
Australia’s resource Cinderella
Rangelands
National Land and Water Resources AuditA p r o g r a m o f t h e N a t u r a l H e r i t a g e T r u s t
AgricultureIndustry - information user & provider
National Land and Water Resources AuditA p r o g r a m o f t h e N a t u r a l H e r i t a g e T r u s t
Agriculture Implications
• Australian Soil Resources Information System
• Industry information partnerships
• Soil acidity a national issue
• Soil erosion mapped at sub regional scale
Soil – a fundamental resource
Agriculture
National Land and Water Resources AuditA p r o g r a m o f t h e N a t u r a l H e r i t a g e T r u s t
Farmers manage ~60% of the landscapeAgriculture
National Land and Water Resources AuditA p r o g r a m o f t h e N a t u r a l H e r i t a g e T r u s t
Agriculture Implications
• Industry leadership towards best practice
• Strategies for continuous improvement and innovation in sustainability
• Understanding industry evolution
Farmer focussed and solution orientated
Agriculture
National Land and Water Resources AuditA p r o g r a m o f t h e N a t u r a l H e r i t a g e T r u s t
EnvironmentLandscape health & biodiversity
National Land and Water Resources AuditA p r o g r a m o f t h e N a t u r a l H e r i t a g e T r u s t
Biodiversity and Landscape Health Implications• Integrated ecological assessment
• Stressed and threats – keystone species, weeds
• Volunteer bird observation network – citizen science
• Biodiversity 2002, 2008
• Rangelands 2002, 2008
Stark picture of biodiversity loss
Environment
National Land and Water Resources AuditA p r o g r a m o f t h e N a t u r a l H e r i t a g e T r u s t
EnvironmentAustralia’s aquatic ecosystems
National Land and Water Resources AuditA p r o g r a m o f t h e N a t u r a l H e r i t a g e T r u s t
River & Estuary Implications• Sediment and nutrient story for Australian catchments
• Sources and sinks (SedNet & ANNEX)
• OzEstuaries: Estuary inventory – process drivers and condition
Basis for priority setting under NAPSWQ, GBR Water Quality Improvement Plan
Estuaries finally on the map…
Environment
National Land and Water Resources AuditA p r o g r a m o f t h e N a t u r a l H e r i t a g e T r u s t
Access to data
ASDD
ANRDLDirect-link ANRA
ANRA
NAVIGATOR
STATE ATLASES
DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS
DATAA network of information services
National Land and Water Resources AuditA p r o g r a m o f t h e N a t u r a l H e r i t a g e T r u s t
Data management & knowledge implications
• Australian Natural Resources Atlas >> Australian Resources Online
• Australian Natural Resources Data Library
• ANZLIC Spatial Data Management Policy
• Monitoring protocols for natural resource assets
• Australian Natural Resource Information Infrastructure
BOM Water, Creative commons
DATA
Data quality Trend
Distribution
Abundance
OccurrenceDensity
Feral pigs
ReportingReporting
• Baseline collations– (http://adl.brs.gov.au/anrdl/php/)
• Status of Information- (SNRI Series)
Indicator Indicator InformatioInformation Productsn Products
National Land UseNational Land Use
•National scale land use maps for 1992/93, 1993/94, 1996/97, 1998/99, 2000/01 & 2001/02
““Integrated” Report CardsIntegrated” Report Cards
Agreement to Useful Agreement to Useful national Productsnational Products
StateState
NRMNRMRegionRegion
IBRAIBRACatchmentCatchment
Veg Veg ExtentExtentBy…..By…..
How has the information been How has the information been used?used?
Continuing the AssessmentsContinuing the Assessments
National Biodiversity Assessment - 2008• Building the capacity to measure trends• Report against the biodiversity assets threats
and responses• Much progress – but we still can’t report .
Rangelands 2008 “Taking the pulse”• Reporting change in many indicators and processes• Building an on-going capacity to interpret change• Evidence based policy and decisions
Regional Reporting – building capacity
Signposts for Australian Signposts for Australian Agriculture Agriculture
What did we learn?What did we learn?
• Good institutional systems for ongoing data management are essential• It is never enough to just collect the data• Knowledge should be seen as a public asset, not power• Levels of accuracy must be clearly defined• Rigorous science practice provides an excellent platform for building business propositions
Success factorsSuccess factors
•Purpose• Frameworks• Resources• Science• Partnerships• Good will• Institutional form• …Drambuie
Assessment principlesAssessment principles
• System approach – process understanding
• Data driven– Mapping > monitoring > modelling
• Scalable – continent context informing targeted
regional investment• Management orientated
One ExampleOne Example
Biophysical understanding of diffuse pollution
National Land and Water Resources AuditA p r o g r a m o f t h e N a t u r a l H e r i t a g e T r u s t
Rainfall ErosivityR
Soil ErodibilityK
Cover ManagementC
Slope & Slope LengthL&S
Support PracticeP
HILLSLOPE EROSION RATE
Monthly Soil Loss Ratio
Monthly Distribution of R Factor
QDNR Daily RainfallASRIS Soil Attributes High res & 9” DEMs
Terrain Analysis
Woody cover and monthly grass cover
BRS Landuse AVHRR Derived NDVI
Time Series Analysis
Monthly C Factor
ReflectionsScientific underpinning
National Land and Water Resources AuditA p r o g r a m o f t h e N a t u r a l H e r i t a g e T r u s t
Land & Water Systems approach: multi-scale
National Land and Water Resources AuditA p r o g r a m o f t h e N a t u r a l H e r i t a g e T r u s t
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100 %Runoff
%Point
%Bank
%Gully
%Hillslope
Fitz
roy
Targeting and setting regional prioritiesLAND & WATER
National Land and Water Resources AuditA p r o g r a m o f t h e N a t u r a l H e r i t a g e T r u s t
NRMPriorities for management identified
National Land and Water Resources AuditA p r o g r a m o f t h e N a t u r a l H e r i t a g e T r u s t
People Incentives – essential for public benefit
Sustainable Landscapes
Public Benefit, as a flow on from Public Benefit, as a flow on from Audit I & II Audit I & II
Reef Rescue & Project Catalyst Reef Rescue & Project Catalyst Roll OutRoll Out
Key Ingredients include:
Building on Audit outputs -
Incentives for public benefit [Reef Rescue]
Regulations [Qld Govt]
Monitoring
R&D [Project Catalyst]
Some International Flow OnsSome International Flow Ons
Input to EU Directive – Rivers Participated in design and rollout of Millennium Assessment [and then MDG’s] WMO Floodplain Management GuidelinesGlobal Water Partnership focus on multi-value water assets USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service - Nutrient Management from diffuse sources
Some Quotable QuotesSome Quotable Quotes“no – we will have a war against salinity” “well – haven’t you fixed it yet?” “ what’s in it for the farmer?” “but you know as well as I do, the media will take photos of dead sheep and dry dams and we are back where we started from” “taking information from regions, joining it together to produce a national overview should be simple” “the states don’t matter”
“that’s bullshit Minister – and you know it is”
Some Key LessonsSome Key Lessons
Politicians love a crisis – statesmen seek solutions Evidence-based decision making wins .......eventually
Timing is everything Business cases, partnerships and clarity of beneficiaries are essential
a well articulated vision
The Continued ChallengeThe Continued Challenge
• Public investment requires priorities
• For priorities we need long term strategic information – conditions and trends
• Information must answer the “what can you do about it?’ question
Information must be managed as a national asset and translated to
community knowledge
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Australia’s Emerging Challenge – Multi-objective Agriculture
Smart Precision Systems Agriculture – Productive, Sustainable, Reduced Emissions & Increased Mitigation
The exceptional circumstances of a changing weather and economic climate requires a re-think of EC!
National Land and Water Resources AuditA p r o g r a m o f t h e N a t u r a l H e r i t a g e T r u s t
National Land & Water Resources Audit
& thanks for all the fish....
Blair Wood, Executive Director, 2003-2008
Warwick McDonald, Technical Director, 1998-2002
Colin Creighton, Executive Director, 1997-2002