Australian Natural Resources Atlas

Publications

Australia's Natural Resources

1997-2002 and beyond
National Land and Water Resources Audit, 2002

Australia's Natural Resources: Looking Ahead

Natural resource management in Australia is changing. Responsibility for innovative approaches to local problems is increasingly being delegated to regional and local groups and managers. People are being encouraged and in some States are already empowered to participate in the design and implementation of innovative solutions based on local knowledge and experience within their own catchments. An all-encompassing, community-driven approach involving encouragement, partnerships and local commitment is being given greater emphasis than an externally driven regulatory approach.

The future management of Australia's natural resources depends on adopting a common understanding of and approach to the task.

Key ingredients for natural resource management in Australia

These ingredients apply equally to information provision. Information based on ready access to data, sound underpinning science, and subsequent monitoring and evaluation of programs and their outcomes, are all crucial to the success of any natural resource management program. As an aid to reaching soundly based decisions, the Audit has summarised the key processes of natural resource decision making and project implementation in a model (Figure 80).

Figure 80. Phases in natural resource management decision making.

Figure 80. Phases in natural resource management decision making.

Access to information

Information, partnerships, property rights and incentives are four key components identified for natural resource management (John Anderson, Deputy Prime Minister, ABARE Outlook Conference, 7 March 2002).

Investment in information is essential as it provides the context for:

The information must be based on rigorously collected data. Sound data allows changes in resource condition to be tracked and policy and management initiatives to be evaluated, an essential basis for continuous improvement and to show with certainty the extent of any benefits from investment in natural resource management programs.

We need a portfolio of natural resources data sets, collation and assessment tools and information packages aligned with policy instruments and refined within the context of public and private benefits. Australia has made progress through the Audit. This work has revealed shortcomings in the structure and breadth of natural resources data. Carefully planned and coordinated enhancement of the Australia-wide effort in data gathering and information provision, will yield environmental and economic benefits well beyond the level of investment.

RECOMMENDATION 1

To deliver on the vision for improved natural resource condition, conservation and productive use of its natural resources, Australia through partnerships and contributions across government, industry and the community, should strategically increase its investment in data collection and collation, the provision of information and its application and making it available at cost of transfer, for use by the community and industry.

Adoption of improved management practices can be encouraged with the use of incentives. Market forces are increasingly providing some of these incentives. They may be driven locally by consumer expectations in retail trade, or internationally in negotiating forums such as the World Trade Organisation.

Policies are now being implemented using market-based mechanisms. Natural resources property rights and their tradability in markets serve as further incentives to improve economic and resource use efficiency.

In considering policy change, government evaluates the respective extents of private and public costs and benefits (Figure 81). Although this differentiation is commonly addressed in public policy making, it is less readily recognised by private landholders. Landholders' decisions sometimes have public benefits, may also have public disbenefits.

Figure 81. Framework for options assessment by natural resource management policy makers.

Figure 81. Framework for options assessment by natural resource management policy makers.

Changes in natural resource condition develop slowly but progressively with time. Amelioration and/or reversal can also involve considerable lengths of time from adoption to implementation to completion to achieving desired outcomes. It is imperative to recognise the need for policy direction as quickly as possible, a requirement that can be most effectively met with good data access and information services.

Policy options should consider incentives and disincentives that may be available to encourage private decision makers and managers to maximise any public benefits.

With a limit to our natural resources and competing demands for their use, policy developers and natural resources managers will always need to balance the merits of proportionate investment in alternative options. The quality of these trade-offs will be maximised by having access to sound information underpinned by standardised data sets upon which comparative judgements can be made. Most will require a consideration of private and public benefits resulting in a private-public partnership approach to natural resource management based on a shared knowledge and understanding of natural resource processes, economic opportunities, and nature conservation needs. The Australian Natural Resources Atlas and Data Library coupled with similar systems available in some States, Territories and regions are tools for making information available and facilitating the prerequisite comparative analysis. There is a need for greater awareness of their initial potential and the increasing benefits from their continuing development to add strength, better integration and more effective collaboration to natural resource decision making. Part of the Commonwealth response to this demand will be fostering knowledge interchange and support to regional groups within Audit activities 2002-2007.

Much remains to be done to build evidence-based, decision-making processes into our natural resource decisions at all tiers of government. Nevertheless the foundations are in place and provide the basis for the following sections detailing natural resource management opportunities and imperatives for Australia.

RECOMMENDATION 2

Based on strategic and integrated information provision, Australia needs to increase its activities in knowledge exchange, investing in a variety of government, industry and community based extension and support services that translate natural resources information into understanding, improved practice and the setting of goals and targets, providing decision support techniques and applying these at regional through to national scales.

Opportunities for improved management

Use of Australia's natural resources continue to change as management systems, market opportunities and conservation demands evolve. These factors affect both on-farm and off-farm resource use options and the condition of the natural resource base. Despite the adaptability of Australian agriculture and increases in productivity, the Audit has highlighted a range of deteriorating components of land quality, including:

As a consequence, there is diminished health of streams, estuaries and adjacent inshore waters. Although not addressed by the Audit in its first phase of assessments, further but uncosted impacts occur on fisheries, general ecology, biodiversity and recreational amenity.

Improvements in farming systems and a more integrated landscape or catchment-scale approach to natural resource management are delivering improvement in the condition of our natural resources. Continued improvements will largely depend on further improvements in land management practices. In some cases, changes in land use may have to occur, particularly where the current uses are unsustainable. If we are to foster improved practices we need better linking between environmental management systems, property planning, soil use and nutrient practices and catchment management programs. These links encompass key issues such as riparian land management and most importantly, incentives to foster the changes through a more integrated approach to land-management decision making.

Activities on-farm can be broadly classified as:

Recognising the well-documented trend of declining condition in our public resources including landscapes, rivers and estuaries, a more integrated approach across these broad activities is essential and needs to be fostered through a range of policy mechanisms.

Changes towards more sustainable practices, tracking progress in the adoption of practice and resource condition, and effective outcome monitoring through consistent data gathering are essential. This will allow both public and private land managers to initiate new programs, measure the changes, and evaluate the outcomes—as part of a process of continuous improvement.

To meet the increasing demand for use, productivity and health information, an integrated and coordinated monitoring and assessment program needs to be implemented that builds on existing activities—particularly those within the State and Territory agencies.

Land resources

Access to land for productive purposes is the linchpin of the nation's agriculture and forestry. In the first two hundred years following European settlement, new agricultural land was being 'opened up'. In more recent years, the limits to the intensive land use zone have largely become determined, and land managers have moved to make more intensive use of land (e.g. by the adoption of continuous cropping systems, new agricultural chemicals and new genetic materials). As a greater cognisance has developed of the limitations in our land resources, programs such as the National Soil Fertility Program, the National Soil Conservation Program and more recently the Landcare initiative have been introduced.

Opportunities with potential for improving land resource management

Data from the Audit have highlighted opportunities for improving the management of our land resources. These include:

ACTIVITIES THAT ENSURE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT BENEFITS

Reducing risks to public infrastructure by identifying likely public benefits from public co-investments towards the management of privately owned land.

Require evidence-based proposals from regional and community groups, with eligibility for government-sponsored programs being predicated on evidence that sources of known regional data have been accessed in the development of the program proposal, that provision for natural resource monitoring and evaluation of the outputs have been included, and that the data obtained in this way is to be made available for inclusion in the Australian Natural Resources Data Library.

Eligibility for personal participation in government-sponsored programs in agriculture to be underpinned by evidence that applicants have accessed appropriate natural resources information sources to ensure their planning will achieve profit within a framework of environmental responsibility.

Providing land information

To achieve effective management of the productivity and ensure responsible stewardship of our land resources, regular updating of the Australian Soil Resources Information System and the correlation of soil properties to a series of key information sets and assessment activities will provide the basis for strategic investment in land management-to maximise their productivity, minimise off site impact and maintain soil condition. Key information sets and assessment activities to be correlated with the Australian Soil Resources Information System and provide the information basis for improved soil management include:

RECOMMENDATION 3.1

To meet the increasing demand for information on Australia's land resources, their use, productivity and health, Australia should implement an integrated land monitoring program that tracks soil condition, monitors soil, water and nutrient budgets, details land management practice, links practice to soil condition and productivity and is based on the Australian Soil Resources Information System.

Water resources

Water is a scarce and valuable resource in Australia. The Audit has collated and reporting on the availability and environmental status of surface water and groundwater resources, rivers, and estuaries. It has highlighted limitations on how water is managed and Australia's dependence on irrigation for half the profit at full equity from the nation's agriculture.

Management of Australia's water resources is increasingly attracting a more integrated, Australia-wide, community-oriented approach to meet multiple objectives. Issues being addressed include:

Opportunities with potential for improving water resource management

Some of the following potential opportunities are already being considered.

UNDERSTANDING INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES

Identifying and facilitating the contribution of 'ecosystem services'. Ecosystems services involve transforming a set of natural assets—soil, plants and animals, air and water—into things that we value including provision of clean and pure water; sustained supply of plant nutrients; maintenance of a liveable climate; and clean, breathable atmosphere. Environmental standards required for the regional planning and management of riparian lands, rivers and estuaries will be better defined by incorporating a consideration of ecosystem services.

Figure 82. Ecosystems services conceptual framework: a conceptual framework developed to illustrate the role of ecosystem services in maintaining assets and in supporting the production of goods of value to the Goulburn-Broken catchment in Victoria

Figure 82. Ecosystems services conceptual framework: a conceptual framework developed to illustrate the role of ecosystem services in maintaining assets and in supporting the production of goods of value to the Goulburn-Broken catchment in Victoria

Establishing and adopting Australia-wide, agreed definitions and methods for determining sustainable flow regimes for surface waters and sustainable yield for groundwater resources.

Establishing and maintaining sustainable flow regimes for all developed rivers. The Australian natural environment has significant inter-seasonal variation in surface water flows. These processes will involve limiting the surface water that is potentially divertible from a catchment after taking account of environmental values and making provision for environmental water needs.

Establishing sustainable yield regimes for all highly used aquifers. The Australian natural environment has significant inter-annual variation in recharge. In most cases, groundwater resources require long time frames for replenishment. Establishing sustainable regimes would include providing for maintenance of groundwater quality, pressure and environmental values, and for environmental water needs (e.g. mound springs and other groundwater dependent ecosystems) and ensuring integration with surface water management through conjunctive use strategies.

Fostering an understanding of the links between land and water resource management (e.g. generating remediation works in the riparian zone to improve water conservation and quality).

Progressively establishing inter-jurisdictional agreements for all catchments and underground water resources spanning State and Territory borders based on agreed Australia-wide standards for water resource management. Current examples include the Border Rivers agreement between New South Wales and Queensland, and the Border Groundwaters Agreement between Victoria and South Australia.

MULTI-OBJECTIVE NATURE OF WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Figure 83. Surface water (left) and groundwater (right) basins spanning the South Australian border to adjacent States or the Northern Territory

Figure 83. Surface water (left) and groundwater (right) basins spanning the South Australian border to adjacent States or the Northern Territory

The multi-objective nature of water resource management can be well demonstrated in the Murray-Darling Basin where current objectives provide for water resource outcomes over and above the minimum entitlement flow of 1850 GL at the South Australian border. These objectives have their basis in the Murray-Darling Basin Agreement:

  • A cap on diversions to underpin water resource security and address over-allocation;
  • Water for meeting quality standards or 'dilution flows' (e.g. maintaining water salinity levels at Morgan below 800 EC units 95% of the time);
  • Water for needs of landscape biodiversity or 'environmental flows' (e.g. in maintaining the viability of the Barmah-Millewa Forest); and
  • Water to maintain estuarine water condition (e.g. in the Coorong by ensuring adequate flushing flows through the Murray mouth).

Figure 84. The Murray mouth nearly closed, 28 November 2001.

Figure 84. The Murray mouth nearly closed, 28 November 2001.

LOOKING BEYOND ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY

  • Facilitating the better operation of market mechanisms that allow irrigation water to move to uses with the highest economic value-recognising that its ecological footprint can be more readily managed than that of extensive agriculture.
  • Considering rights of access to water resources-whether for economic or non-market uses such as recreation or aesthetic enjoyment-within a multiple-use framework and keeping in mind an appreciation of the impact of each use on other uses and on the landscape.
  • Broadening future National Competition Council assessments of Council of Australian Governments Water Reform to take account of the achievement of physical as well as economic efficiency improvements in water management.
  • Improving decisions on water resource capital development within a framework of surface water and groundwater sustainability that considers the hydrology of the entire catchment, alternative water sources, and an evaluation of all alternative economic and social users and uses. Adoption of procedures described in Large scale resource development-an integrated assessment process (NLWRA 1999) would support such an approach.

Figure 85. The rehabilitation and pipelining of Great Artesian Basin bores, some over 100 years old, can be used as an aid to biodiversity management as well as reducing water waste.

Figure 85. The rehabilitation and pipelining of Great Artesian Basin bores, some over 100 years old, can be used as an aid to biodiversity management as well as reducing water waste.

Water resources information

From the outputs of the Audit, Australia can establish a baseline on how its water resources are used, identify ways in which water resources can be more effectively and efficiently managed, and with continued assessments, measure the progress achieved.

Development opportunities can also be evaluated from this base-opportunities involving both new schemes that foster profitable and sustainable production, and improvements to existing schemes to deliver water use efficiencies and therefore more water for both productive and environmental uses.

To respond to these opportunities, information sets and assessment activities are required at scales relevant to local water resource and catchment managers including:

RECOMMENDATION 3.2

To meet the increasing demand for information on Australia's surface and groundwater resources, their use, productivity and health, Australia should implement an integrated water resource monitoring program, that tracks water use, monitors water availability and quality, details management practices and is available to underpin an Australia-wide agreed policy for sustainable water use.

Biodiversity and key ecological resources

The community is becoming increasingly aware of the uniqueness of Australia's flora and fauna. Native vegetation conservation has had progressively increasing attention over the past two decades. The Audit has brought rigour to the information sets and assessments by initiating a consistent framework for compiling data on Australia's flora-the National Vegetation Information System.

To date, public attention has primarily been drawn to the more conspicuous components of the environment such as rainforests and wet sclerophyll forests. Only now are we beginning the first steps to understand how all the biological components of the environmental jigsaw fit together with Australia's land and water resources:

The processes of change in landscapes modified for human use are less well understood. Australia's rivers and estuaries are a good example. They are key multi-use resources requiring management in a multi-objective framework. They provide high value community assets such as drinking water and estuarine/marine fisheries, are the basis for a range of commercial and non-commercial activities, and are vital components of our biodiversity, natural habitats and ecosystem services.

Although farming seeks to generate a monoculture in field or horticultural crop production, it nevertheless occurs within an adapting ecosystem that also contains competing plants (weeds); beneficial and pathogenic organisms in the soil environment; and beneficial and harmful animals, birds and insects in the above-ground environment. Managers increasingly need to know how this ecosystem works, they can influence it and its 'services' can be maximised.

The increasing use of integrated pest management in agriculture, and the use of biological remediation of polluted sites through 'land farming' are examples of the recognition of the potential of 'ecosystem services'.

Opportunities for improving biodiversity conservation and management

CONTRIBUTORS TO BETTER MANAGEMENT

Ecological models can help understand how ecosystem processes interact and the extent of resilience and flexibility they can accommodate. Components would include droughts, floods, fires, soil erodibility and fertility, topography, and water balance.

Investment-encouraged through private-public partnerships that recognise the public good role for stewardship of rare and threatened biodiversity that landholders may have in their management programs.

Establishment of standards with objectives that ensure desired biodiversity outcomes from the design of new infrastructure developments such as roads, railways and dams.

Minimisation of key point source discharges by identifying and reducing impact from facilities such as sewage treatment plants to reduce the extent of hazard and risk to riparian, riverine and estuarine ecosystems.

Biodiversity information-rivers and estuaries

Rivers and estuaries are key ecological resources. Their improved and cost-effective management requires information and assessment activities that:

RECOMMENDATION 3.3

To provide sought-after information and understanding on how the ecology of our rivers and estuaries operates, including the current condition of their riparian and aquatic biodiversity, and the impact and sustainability of current and proposed management practices, Australia should implement an integrated river and estuary monitoring program that is based on agreed assessment protocols and spatial frameworks, and is reported and assessed within a catchment land use context.

Biodiversity information-native vegetation

Improved and cost-effective management of our native vegetation requires information and assessment activities that:

RECOMMENDATION 3.4

To provide underpinning information required for the management of Australia's native vegetation, its use, productivity and biodiversity values, Australia should implement an integrated native vegetation monitoring program that tracks change in extent, monitors condition, determines levels of carbon sequestration, details management practice and returns from use and builds on and integrates data from both the National Forest Inventory and the National Vegetation Information System and links to the National Carbon Accounting System and the Australian Collaborative Rangeland Information System.

Biodiversity information-terrestrial landscapes

Adoption of landscape units should be encouraged as an appropriate framework for assessing the status of terrestrial biota and, in particular, recognising that landscape units may be more appropriate than catchments as a framework for management programs across the large arid regions of Australia.

Information and assessment activities on which to base cost-effective and efficient protection and management of terrestrial biodiversity include:

RECOMMENDATION 3.5

To provide information on Australia's terrestrial biodiversity, its condition and management needs, Australia should implement an hierarchical and landscape based bioregional monitoring and assessment program that tracks change in species, populations and regional ecosystems, determines the impact of threatening processes, details management activities and assesses opportunities for improved management.

Biodiversity information-rangelands

The rangelands make up 75% of Australia's surface area. They include ecosystems that encompass major subsets of Australia's biological diversity and are a significant natural resource that provides economic, ecological and cultural values. The demand for their use is increasing. Most of their use is built on their biodiversity, with increasing opportunities to develop complementary economic enterprises based on a multiple-use philosophy.

Expanded transport infrastructure-road and rail and air- is making travel through the rangelands easier. Population pressure on the environment for a range of non-pastoral uses including mining, tourism and defence is increasing. Interestingly, unlike many of the agricultural areas of Australia, the Audit found that the mean age of the rangelands population is decreasing. Tenure arrangements are undergoing change. Indigenous rights and aspirations are having an increasing influence on rangeland use and management.

Australia's rangelands present a management challenge. Since the costs of remedial works usually far outstrip the economic value of the land resource, management needs to be proactive, operating within a conservation framework. It needs to be based on monitoring of condition and trend that predicts variability (e.g. drought) and ensure intervention to minimise the likelihood of any impacts well before the impacts have the opportunity to occur.

The Audit has developed the Australian Collaborative Rangeland Information System. This system:

The system is designed to link to existing State and Northern Territory monitoring programs, but also has provision to broaden their monitoring activities to meet already-negotiated and agreed standards. There is further scope to build a link with the Northern Territory Desert Knowledge initiative. Because of the size and complexity of the rangelands, a particularly important aspect will be to ensure clearly established lines of responsibility for monitoring, audit and policy coordination at Commonwealth, States and Territory whole of government level. There may be opportunities to better integrate policy responsibilities for the rangelands as government structures evolve.

RECOMMENDATION 3.6

To underpin effective and protective management of Australia's rangelands, including their use, productivity, biodiversity, community, indigenous and economic values, Australia should implement the Australian Collaborative Rangeland Information System.

Linking ecological, economic and social aspirations

Natural resource management is but one of the major policy issues being developed by government-issues which are increasingly finalised at the Council of Australian Governments. Natural resource management policies have to be considered within the wider agenda of government, in the context of the economic and social aspirations of the Australian community, its future population, living standards, and its place on the world stage.

All land managers operate in complex communities and respond to a plethora of cultural, legal, market and institutional agenda:

Natural resource management is just one of these managers' many priorities. Their decisions can have both private and public benefits and costs.

Decision making faced by managers in agricultural industries are complex (Figure 86).

Figure 86. The complexities of interactions and decision making faced by the commercial dairy farmer.

Figure 86. The complexities of interactions and decision making faced by the commercial dairy farmer.

The Audit found that in 1996/97, approximately 80% of the agricultural profits at full equity were derived from less than 1% of Australia's land. Half of all profits derive from irrigated agriculture. About 10% of farm establishments produce 40-50% of the gross agricultural income.

Quite clearly the ecological and economic footprints differ dramatically between regions and between industries, and may well be subjected to different interpretations by the community.

Changes in practice takes time to implement and outcomes of change in practice have even longer time frames. Audit assessments have demonstrated that the sustainable resource management practices most likely to be adopted are those that:

Some natural resource management practices do not readily demonstrate these characteristics.

Significant and continual change is occurring in land-use patterns in rural and regional Australia. This might lead to some regions remaining predominantly agricultural in character and with investments accordingly in sustainable agriculture while others move towards amenity landscapes with less emphasis on agriculture. In some areas nature conservation uses can be expected to increase. Some properties are now being managed by landholders seeking to meet the triple objectives of economic production, lifestyle choice and conservation achievement.

Some questions remain.

These are among the questions that usually need answering as part of a strategic approach to managing change while fostering improvements in land-use practice. Answering these questions will need access to natural resources information.

Integrating economic and biophysical information

Natural resource management requires an appreciation of the costs and benefits of resource use and the likely outcomes of management intervention and investment. Setting priorities, and clarifying the opportunities for improved management and the roles of government and land users is essential to determining investment strategies and trade-offs at scales from regional through to Australia wide. Resource accounting involving economic, social and environmental attributes requires:

Many of the information sets on which to base resource accounting are available through existing data collection activities such as those of the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The key challenges are to spatially integrate these data sets with information on natural resource condition collated through monitoring and assessment activities (see Recommendations 1-3) and to test the opportunities and effectiveness of various investment options. Assessment at regional scales is essential and provides key inputs for formulating and finetuning regional plans.

RECOMMENDATION 4

To facilitate integrated social, economic and environmental planning and management Australia needs to develop and implement an agreed approach to resource accounting, applicable at regional through to Australia wide scales, incorporating market and unpriced values, together with the costs and benefits of resource use.

Measure to manage

There is much still to be done in delivering knowledge to decision makers at the scales relevant to their decisions. Within the broader, Australia-wide landscape context, we need to seek both wise and sustainable development, and continual improvement in land-use practices.

Australia spends billions of dollars meeting demands for natural resource research, management, advice, data collection and monitoring. These investments range from:

Regular assessments

For Australia to maximise its investment in natural resource management and returns from the use of our natural resources, we need rigorous, regular and legislatively based processes that:

RECOMMENDATION 5

To meet demands for information and provide a framework for effective and efficient investment in and returns from our natural resources, Australia should regularly assess and report on their condition and on the outcomes of our natural resources programs, and in the context of these assessments, adjust and implement its natural resource management initiatives.

Coordinating and harmonising assessment methods and data collection

Evaluation of the worth of Australia-wide investment in natural resource management requires a nationally consistent framework for monitoring and evaluation that:

The Commonwealth Government has announced the continuation of the National Land and Water Resources Audit and, accordingly, a coordinating and value-adding approach should provide the basis for the Audit's future operations.

The most cost-effective approach will be to ensure continuity through building on the recently completed Audit assessments of water, soils, rivers, estuaries, native vegetation, land use and biodiversity. These assessments already cover the key ecosystem drivers of climate, landscape and topography, land use intensity, erosion rate, sediment and nutrient loading, native vegetation cover, soil degradation, water quality, water resource use, altered flow hydrology, and exotic biota. Building on these compilations will provide opportunities for filling information gaps required by decision makers and updating data sets as conditions change.

Each of the Audit reports has identified significant gaps in both the data available on the trend, condition and use of Australia's natural resources and in the methods of analysis and collation to provide management-orientated information. Examples of gaps in data sets and information analysis are:

Figure 87. Satellite image (A) and map (B) of vegetation showing State and map sheet boundary discontinuities.

Figure 87. Satellite image (A) and map (B) of vegetation showing State and map sheet boundary discontinuities.

Data collection and information analysis will always be limited in funding. Both tactical and strategic responses are required to meet client needs. Well-planned, Australia-wide approaches to data provision will establish priorities based on:

We already have many investments in monitoring including:

The full Australia-wide benefit of these endeavours is not being achieved because of inadequate integration. Despite the best efforts of the Audit to harmonise data standards, there are clearly discernible differences in some of their assessments. These are attributable to variations in definitions, data collection protocols and information management strategies adopted over the years by the different State, Territory and Commonwealth governments and research agencies. In many cases, while data are collected, the links between data sets to determine resource condition and the analysis to provide information to assist decision makers are often lacking.

Preparing to construct the Audit's Australian Native Vegetation Assessment 2001 resulted in contributing agencies agreeing for the first time on a technical framework and guidelines allowing for the collection, compilation and monitoring of Australia's native vegetation data. Through the partnership between the Audit and Commonwealth, State and Territory agencies, there is now an Australia-wide regional assessment of the type, extent and change in Australia's native vegetation cover between 1788 and the current day through the National Vegetation Information System. However, Australia still has much to improve in the collection, collation, analysis and then application of the data sets it already collects.

It might be argued that a prior commitment to their existing processes by the various agencies may mitigate against achieving truly integrated data sets. However, there is positive encouragement from the experience of the Australian Collaborative Land Evaluation Program, initiated in 1992 through a Commonwealth, State and Territory commitment under the aegis of the Agricultural and Resource Management Council of Australia and New Zealand. In the ensuing years, the participating agencies have seen the benefits of moving towards and accepting a standardised data collection system for Australia's soils. The contribution of the Audit, building on this activity, has been to add value to the comparable data sets by analysing them and establishing additional information useful to decision makers. The outcome is a nationally conformable database from the point and survey map data that have been collected by the State and Territory agencies and CSIRO since the 1970s, brought together in the Australian Soil Resources Information System (NLWRA 2001e). Based on this information, other analyses can then proceed and deliver major advances in understanding natural resource condition, thereby establishing priorities for works and activities.

Coordination of data gap filling activities in partnerships across government, community and industry is essential and needs to be undertaken as part of an Australia-wide response to improving our natural resources information. Coordination will meet wide ranging and varied client needs by:

The National Land and Water Resources Audit is far from a complete assessment of natural resource issues for Australia, both in terms of issues and current coverage. Some of the issues that have been identified by Commonwealth, State and Territory agencies and are yet to be assessed include:

RECOMMENDATION 6

To meet client information needs and maximise returns from investment in data collection and information analysis, Australia needs to re-assess opportunities to target data collection, improve coverage, relevance and quality, implement any gap-filling and ensure effective information provision, with consequential activities to be implemented in a coordinated manner.

Australia-wide standards and access

The Audit's Report Australian Natural Resources Information 2002 notes that natural resource data and information are:

There is considerable scope to enhance the value of our data collection activities. The report recommends a series of activities and organisational initiatives to improve returns from investment. These recommendations are in the context of the progress made during the Audit in the provision of and access to data and information through the application of standardised approaches. These are based on the Australian Spatial Data Directory and Infrastructure, the development of data library systems and the compilation of distributed and linked atlases including the Australian Natural Resources Atlas at www.environment.gov.au/atlas.

Recommendations are detailed in Appendix 2 and cover:

RECOMMENDATION 7

As part of the development of a more strategic, client responsive and cost effective approach to data collection and information provision, Australia needs to implement through the Natural Resources Management Ministerial Council, recommendations contained within the Audit's Report Australian Natural Resources Information 2002.

The recommendations include building and maintaining fundamental data sets; providing ready access at cost of transfer to data and information through data libraries and atlases; ensuring maximum utility of the investment in data collection activities; ensuring regular reporting within the standard frameworks defined by the Australia New Zealand Land Information Council; and facilitating opportunities for further co-investment and collaborative management in data sets required by client organisations.

Coordinating Australia-wide activities in natural resources information

As part of natural resource management, Australia invests considerable resources in data collection and information provision. Within the natural resources area, there has been an increase in the range and type of organisations collecting data and providing information-including government departments, government statutory authorities (e.g. the Murray-Darling Basin Commission and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority), community groups, industry, research and development corporations, CSIRO, cooperative research centres and universities. Convergence of data sources should be encouraged.

The value of time series data sets has been well demonstrated in fields such as hydrology and climate change to support natural resource management. The coordination task is complex and requires facilitated partnerships. Partnerships between government, industry and communities are essential and require long term commitment.

There is an increasing diversity of applications for data and information products. Uses range from individuals and local groups, to regional planners through to those responsible for State and Territory and Australia-wide reporting (e.g. State of Environment reporting and international reporting obligations such as the Montreal Protocol). Users of natural resource information are demanding:

Many of the issues such as standardisation and access, are generic to data activities, not just to natural resources data. The Australia New Zealand Land Information Council has been responding to these generic issues by fostering implementation of the Australian Spatial Data Infrastructure. The Audit has been a test case for improving natural resources data management and information provision and the catalyst for the formation of the Commonwealth Office of Spatial Data Management.

Continuing activities in coordinating natural resources data as a subset of more generic data management standards and coordination are imperative and will ensure Australia develops a much more cost-effective and client-relevant set of natural resources data collection, management and information provision activities.

To ensure cost-effective and client-relevant data collection and management, Australia needs to continue coordination and the building of partnerships, as a core part of Audit activities 2002-2007, for the collection, management and assessment of natural resource data and its access through data libraries and atlases operating consistently with Australia New Zealand Land Information Council standards.

RECOMMENDATION 8

As part of the development of a more strategic, client responsive and cost effective approach to natural resources data collection and information provision, Australia can build on the lessons learnt from the Audit. To ensure cost effective and client relevant data collection and management activities Australia needs to continue coordination and the building of partnerships for the collection, management and assessment of natural resource data and its access through data libraries and atlases operating consistent with the Australia New Zealand Land Information Council standards.

Independence and client relevance of the Audit

A critical component of the current Audit has been its independence from specific agencies of government while retaining a direct accountability to the Natural Heritage Ministerial Board through the Audit's Advisory Council and a communicative relationship to inter-governmental standing committees. This has helped engender an inclusiveness among participants that would otherwise have been difficult to achieve.

In announcing in March 2002 that the Government would continue a commitment in principle to the continuation of the Audit until 30 June 2007, the Natural Heritage Board agreed to the following key principles in the development of future Audit arrangements:

A continuing and independent Audit could also assume responsibility for coordinating monitoring for major, Australia-wide, cross-jurisdiction programs such as those sponsored by the Natural Heritage Trust and the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality. Accountability could be improved by using facilities such as the Australian Natural Resources Data Library. Advantages for adopting this coordinated approach include transparent independence and elimination of duplication as part of the Commonwealth leadership role in coordination.

There is opportunity to integrate other data sets not yet covered by the Audit (e.g. the National Forest Inventory). Another potentially developing area is that of sequestered carbon, being developed by the Australian Greenhouse Office, with which the Audit has had valuable interaction. The Audit made considerable input by providing data for interpretation and incorporation into the State of the Environment 2001 report.

A potentially topical development could be for a continuing Audit to assume responsibility for facilitating marine data storage and information display through the Australian Natural Resources Atlas and Data Library from the natural resources assessments being undertaken by the other agencies such as the National Oceans Office. The draft Data and Information Strategy of that office has proposed developing a marine data and information guide that provides minimum specifications for delivery of National Oceans Office project data and information based on the National Land and Water Resources Audit Information Management Manual. There is a direct natural resource continuum in managing the land and the oceans. The current Audit has recognised that by taking its study as far as estuaries.

The Audit has tackled issues that were perceived to be most pressing and their key drivers as determined from the 1996 needs analysis. It has shown that there is scope for strategic investments to be undertaken through partnerships developed with other parties, including:

These investments would pursue opportunities to fill critical gaps in existing information and develop additional data products through a series of new initiatives. As part of the strategic planning for the recently announced next phase of the Audit, it will be timely to revisit with stakeholders their future needs for natural resources data and information.

The Audit as an information agency

To deliver on Australia's approach to natural resource management, information will be required to:

The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO 2000), noting that the Natural Resources Management Ministerial Council is to have oversight responsibility for the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality, considered that:

A joint Commonwealth-State/Territory body that builds on the results on the NLWRA could provide joint monitoring and reporting mechanisms to strengthen performance measurement and accountability for both spheres of government. In particular, this cooperative approach could lead to the enhancement of data that could contribute to improved performance targets and baseline data on environmental condition for the purposes of policy development and program management.

Similarly, the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Environment and Heritage (2000) recommended:

... that the National Land and Water Resources Audit be formally established as an on-going, independent statutory Commonwealth authority ... with the power to collect relevant data and maintain an ongoing audit of the state of Australia's catchment systems; and purpose of educating the community of the need for, and effective measures to attain, the ecologically sustainable use of Australia's catchment systems.

The commitment by the Government to continue the Audit reflects a need for the continuing operation to:

This approach is similar to the role and functions of the United States Natural Resources Conservation Service. Its core activities are to coordinate natural resources data collection and information provision as the basis for the review under legislation and the finetuning of United States natural resource programs every five years.

During the period to June 2007, the Audit will continue to develop as a cost-effective data resource with assessments providing information on the progress in Australia's natural resources management. However, while program-based activities provide valuable outputs and impetus, history suggests that they are not sustainable in the long term. Audit-type activities would be best sustained by establishing an independent information agency. Part of this agency's role would be to formally report to government at regular intervals on the status and changes in Australia's natural resources and opportunities for strategic investment to improve or maintain the resource base. Establishing the information agency, its role and responsibilities requires the development of legislation, administrative and accountability arrangements and partnership agreements. These should be progressed over the next term of the Audit (2002-2007).

RECOMMENDATION 9

To ensure the information-based approach to natural resource management that Australia has implemented is effective, Australia needs to establish an information agency with assured life and independence. A legislative base would enable and facilitate processes for the coordinating of natural resource data collection, information provision, mandated assessments of progress, the review and fine tuning of major programs and the development of initiatives.