| Abstract | Executive summary
The Local Land Services (LLS) reform in New South Wales will create a stronger link between natural resource management and agricultural production within an integrated service delivery model. It will present new opportunities for how governments, landholders and communities invest in and manage New South Wales landscapes.
The Natural Resources Commission (NRC) convened a Natural Resource Management Roundtable on Friday 7 June 2013. The Roundtable brought together individuals with leadership experience in Catchment Management Authorities (CMAs), agriculture, industry, community groups and academia to discuss:
- progress and insights gained in 10 years of implementing regional natural resource management in NSW
- opportunities for LLS to capitalise on best practice approaches
- potential risks that may impact LLS natural resource management programs.
Key themes raised in discussion were:
- Governance and leadership – Natural resource management has become much more professional, and the model of standards, targets and the NRC’s independent performance audit has driven continuous improvement. Future governance will need to maintain the opportunities for regional innovation, while ensuring effective leadership and consistent quality across NSW.
- Stakeholder engagement – Experience has shown the importance of building trust with communities and supporting communities and local groups to influence priorities and make their own decisions. However, while natural resource management has become more professional, some communities and groups have been left out of the loop.
- Strategic planning – The upgraded catchment action plans have effectively used resilience thinking, best available information and spatial analysis to improve prioritisation. Future frameworks for state and local strategic planning will need to ensure consistent quality, while encouraging locally-relevant approaches, innovation and community buy-in.
- Integrating natural resource management with farm-scale economics – Natural resource management is becoming more mainstream, and integrated into production. Future programs will need to recognise the diversity of agricultural production and provide confidence that natural resource management will deliver value to farm businesses.
- Service delivery – Natural resource management needs to focus on people, and influencing landscape scale functioning from the farm scale up. There will be a tension between equitable service delivery and strategic regional prioritisation. However, there is an opportunity to more effectively integrate land and water management with production systems and for LLS to partner with and leverage off the skills of local organisations for efficient service-delivery.
- Developing knowledge and evaluating outcomes – The upgraded catchment action plans provide an excellent basis for prioritising evaluation and monitoring effort around the most important factors in the landscape. However, the challenge remains in demonstrating successes and multiple benefits from investment in natural resource management to other landholders, land managers and government investors.
The remainder of this paper expands on these points, reflecting the diverse views of participants.
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