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Australian Natural Resources Atlas

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  • Management

Meeting Audit Objectives

Substantial progress has been made in compiling a framework for monitoring and assessing Australia's native vegetation. Access to the information collated is provided through the Australian Natural Resources Atlas and the Data Library. Information is available at various scales and levels of detail that support broad planning activities and increase community understanding of the needs of native vegetation.

Audit objective 1. Providing a clear understanding of the status of and changes in, the nation's land, vegetation and water resources and implications for their sustainable use

• Compiled very large amounts of native vegetation data, based on standardised Australia-wide vegetation attributes to provide a clear understanding of native vegetation extent and type.
• Included not only present (circa 1997) but also pre-European extent and type where available.
• Compiled the native vegetation data at a range of scales and levels of detail.
• Identified gaps in available data which have restricted the coverage and level of assessment possible.

Audit objective 3. Developing a national information system of compatible and readily accessible resource data

• Undertaken in partnership with States and Territories and coordinated through the Audit and Commonwealth agencies.
• Gained Australia-wide agreement on guidelines and a system to translate disparate vegetation data sets into a compatible information structure.
• Gained Australia-wide agreement, across all jurisdictions, to make native vegetation data readily accessible to the broader community.
• Gained commitment in the States and Territories to compile native vegetation data so that it is compatible with National Vegetation Information System guidelines.
• Identified the need to work towards an efficient database structure for continuing access and updating of vegetation data sets.
• Gained Australia-wide agreement on aggregate vegetation classes for broad grouping and map representation of the diversity of Australian native vegetation.
• Compiled sample information products using the National Vegetation Information System.
• Loaded the National Vegetation Information System data products onto the Australian Natural Resources Atlas and into the Audit's Data Library so that the community and government alike have ready access to information on Australia's native vegetation.

Audit objective 4. Producing national land, vegetation and water-surface and groundwater-assessments as integrated components of the Audit

• Provided data that can now be applied as a key input into the regional plans under the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality. Pre-European data is particularly relevant, providing the basis for assessing optimum levels of water balance and the change that has followed the introduction of other land covers as part of land use.
• Provided spatially referenced native vegetation information that will underpin and inform condition assessment as part of analysis of Australia-wide climate variation and vegetation response based on AVHRR and assessment based on interpretation of Landsat imagery to input into rangelands monitoring proposals.
• Compiled a fundamental data set that has been used as part of the Audit's integrated assessments of river and catchment health.
• Developed a fundamental data set that has been used as an input in the Audit's assessment of biodiversity.

Audit objective 5. Ensuring integration with, and collaboration between, other relevant initiatives

• This report and the National Vegetation Information System was developed in collaboration with all States, Territories and Commonwealth agencies in native vegetation mapping and data management.
• Provides information on the extent and type of vegetation remaining as context for development of revegetation strategies and priorities (e.g. programs under the Natural Heritage Trust).
• The National Vegetation Information System is a framework which identifies a system of compatible vegetation information across Australia as one of the key inputs into best practice arrangements for vegetation management and monitoring in the Australia and New Zealand Environmental Conservation Council, the National Framework for the Management and Monitoring of Australia's Vegetation (ANZECC 2000).
• The major vegetation subgroups are an input for the Threatened Species Scientific Committee as a tool to assist the assessment of threatened ecological communities for listing under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cwlth).
• The National Vegetation Information System is being used by the Australian Greenhouse Office to add further precision in the National Carbon Accounting System.
• As part of the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality, the native vegetation information system is being used to help identify vegetation types at risk from increases in the extent of dryland salinity.
• Environment Australia is using the information to assist with implementing the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cwlth) and guiding funding priorities for the Bushcare program.

Audit objective 6. Providing a framework for monitoring Australia's land and water resources in an ongoing and structured way

• Worked in partnership with State, Territory and Commonwealth agencies.
• Provided the data framework and information technology basis for monitoring in a structured and comparable manner across Australia.
• Supported the development of long-term arrangements with coordinators and data custodians for updating and continued development of the National Vegetation Information System.
• Supported the National Vegetation Information System Stage II activities being funded under the Natural Heritage Trust, coordinated by the Bureau of Rural Sciences, Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry - Australia.

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