Integrated land-sea planning: an operational framework

[Extract] Marine ecosystems face increasing threats from both land-based and sea-based anthropogenic activities (Leslie 2005). Globally, around 60% of MPAs are experiencing a high risk of degradation due to coastal development (Tallis et al. 2008). Explicit consideration of interactions between sites (land-sea); may alter the design of conservation area networks

Planning for climate change northern monsoon cluster: decision making and planning for natural resource management

Natural resource managers are tasked with a range of challenging and sometimes competing management objectives but often have limited resources with which to achieve them. Natural resource management (NRM) objectives typically include conserving biodiversity, maintaining healthy ecosystems, achieving water quality targets and restoring degraded habitats. A key challenge is to identify where, when and how to implement effective activities to achieve these objectives with the least cost and impact on stakeholders. This project provided and tested an appropriate decision support framework for cross-realm planning and supporting synthesis of NRM plans to assist natural resource management groups in northern Australia successfully tackle this challenge

Land clearing in Queensland triples after policy ping pong

[Extract] In 2013, a group of 26 senior scientists in Queensland (including ourselves) expressed serious concern that proposed changes to vegetation protection laws would mean a return to large-scale land clearing. The loss of these protections followed a Ministerial announcement in early 2012 that investigations into and prosecutions of illegal clearing would be halted

Future scenarios for the Fitzroy River catchment: summary of key findings relevant to the WA Government Discussion Paper

We summarise the significant components and findings from NESP project 1.6 (Multi-objective planning in northern Australia: co-benefits and trade-offs between environmental, economic, and cultural outcomes). In particular, we discuss results relevant to the Western Australia government's draft paper 'Managing water in the Fitzroy River Catchment – Discussion paper for stakeholder consultation'. Specifically, we provide comments regarding the seven components of the draft paper: (1) adaptive management, (2) policy on dams, (3) groundwater extraction, (4) surface water harvesting, (5) opportunities for Aboriginal economic development, (6) regulatory requirements, and (7) water development options posed by the WA government for the consideration by stakeholders

Integrated models, frameworks and decision support tools to guide management and planning in Northern Australia. Final report

[Extract] There is a lot of interest in developing northern Australia while also caring for the unique Australian landscape (Commonwealth of Australia 2015). However, trying to decide how to develop and protect at the same time can be a challenge. There are many modelling tools available to inform these decisions, including integrated models, frameworks, and decision support tools, but there are so many different kinds that it’s difficult to determine which might be best suited to inform different decisions. To support planning and development decisions across northern Australia, this project aimed to create resources to help end-users (practitioners) to assess: 1. the availability and suitability of particular modelling tools; and 2. the feasibility of using, developing, and maintaining different types of modelling tools

Coral reef conservation solution-scape white paper

In the face of climate change, warming oceans, and repeated mass coral bleaching, coral reef conservation is at a timely crossroads. There is a new urgency to support and strengthen a rich history of conservation partnerships and actions, while also building toward new actions to meet unparalleled global threats. The goal of this white paper is to synthesize and summarize the diversity of tools, approaches and solutions for coral reef conservation implemented to date and to understand the enabling conditions that lead to successful coral reef conservation. Framed as a “solution-scape,” this white paper seeks to support ongoing decisions to strengthen existing assets and build new investments into portfolios of global coral reef conservation that are equitable and aligned with diverse cultures and worldviews

Conservation of terrestrial environments in the Darling River Basin

A review of the adequacy of nature conservation in the Darling River basin raises questions that are both interesting and, I most cases, difficult to answer

Using insights about key factors impacting 'quality of life' to inform effective on-farm conservation programs: a case study in Northern Australia

Conservation of biodiversity is an ongoing challenge. Governments face many constraints when pursuing conservation, one of the most pervasive being limited budgets for buying land for conservation. To achieve conservation goals, an alternative to acquisition is on-farm conservation. Research suggests that the success of on-farm conservation programs depends primarily on land managers’ behaviour. In the past, one of the tools used for on-farm conservation has been financial incentives but these may be ineffective if they do not align with the intrinsic motivations of land managers. Our paper seeks to learn more about the intrinsic motivations of land managers by learning more about what contributes to their overall quality of life (life satisfaction). We hypothesize that by understanding the drivers of land manager’s subjective assessments of their own life satisfaction we will be able to shed light on the types of incentives that could help promote on-farm conservation. Our analysis highlights that good relationships are the most important contributor to land managers' life satisfaction. We conclude that programs which help maintain good social networks whilst encouraging on-farm conservation are likely to align with intrinsic motivations of land managers and might therefore be more successful in making genuine additional contributions to biodiversity than programs providing only financial incentives

From the mountains to the sea: where is freshwater conservation in the SCB agenda?

[Extract] The Society for Conservation Biology's (SCB) meeting theme for this year, "From the Mountains to the Sea," explicitly addresses linkages between land, fresh water, and sea. Recognizing these linkages is critical to achieving conservation goals in all but the most isolated ecosystems. Whether one is concerned with science, management, or policy, freshwater ecosystems and their associated watersheds provide important functional contexts for terrestrial conservation. Freshwater systems are also the link between terrestrial activities and many marine impacts. For example, the Great Barrier Reef is threatened by sediment, nutrient, and chemical runoff from the catchments draining into the lagoon between the land and the reef. Only an integrated program of land, freshwater, and marine research and management will adequately address the problem. If this is the case generally, how well are we doing at mainstreaming freshwater ecosystems and their watersheds into conservation research and management

A method for risk analysis across governance systems: a Great Barrier Reef case study

Healthy governance systems are key to delivering sound environmental management outcomes from global to local scales. There are, however, surprisingly few risk assessment methods that can pinpoint those domains and sub-domains within governance systems that are most likely to influence good environmental outcomes at any particular scale, or those if absent or dysfunctional, most likely to prevent effective environmental management. This paper proposes a new risk assessment method for analysing governance systems. This method is then tested through its preliminary application to a significant real-world context: governance as it relates to the health of Australia's Great Barrier Reef (GBR). The GBR exists at a supra-regional scale along most of the north eastern coast of Australia. Brodie et al (2012 Mar. Pollut. Bull. 65 81-100) have recently reviewed the state and trend of the health of the GBR, finding that overall trends remain of significant concern. At the same time, official international concern over the governance of the reef has recently been signalled globally by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). These environmental and political contexts make the GBR an ideal candidate for use in testing and reviewing the application of improved tools for governance risk assessment. © 2013 IOP Publishing Ltd