The Minister for Environment and Conservation has set a clear new direction for the evolution of environment and natural resources management (NRM) arrangements in this state.
A great deal has been achieved across the state since the NRM Act came into operation in 2004. These include the eight NRM Boards, established to bring together a number of previously separate components of NRM, and to lead important changes in the way communities were engaged in the development and implementation of regional NRM plans.
A key priority for the government now is to improve administrative and structural arrangements in NRM and this has necessitated a range of changes. At the same time the State NRM Plan (2006) and a range of natural resource legislation is under review.
This is an update about key aspects of this new direction (NRM reform) from The Conservation Council of South Australia (CCSA)
We plan to provide regular updates via e-mail, the CCSA website and our fortnightly e-bulletin.
If you would like any further information about any aspect of the NRM Reform process please contact Jill Woodlands, NRM Facilitator at CCSA on 8223 5155 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
1. Regional Integration
First we will briefly outline the key changes on the NRM Regional Integration agenda.
On 1 July 2010 the new Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) was established bringing together the former Department of Environment and Heritage and most of the natural resources management (NRM) activities previously supported by the former Department of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation. This included support for the eight NRM Boards and Pastoral Board.
This new integrated delivery model now combines environment and natural resource management in the one agency to create a single workforce to support Natural Resource Management (NRM) Boards, the community, and other government agencies manage our natural resources.
NRM Boards will continue to play a central role in engaging their local communities, working with government to decide priorities, helping resolve difficult natural resource challenges, monitoring the condition of natural resources in the regions and accounting to community and government for the expenditure of public funds.
One of the goal's is to increase support for NRM Boards with greater emphasis on their statutory role and to provide integrated, easy to access, services to the community. These changes (known as the regional integration project) will be implemented over two years to July 2012.
The aim is to:
- Better support the work of NRM Boards - their role will be strengthened with a clearer focus on support for communities to engage in planning and decision making
- Create a clear identity for the new service with an easily recognised brand that builds on the community's recognition of the current NRM Board branding
- Integrate the workforce of DENR and eight NRM Boards to improve service delivery - Regional Managers have been appointed as the first step in developing an integrated workforce. The new Managers are:
Adelaide & Mt Lofty Ranges - Kym Good
Kangaroo Island - Bill Haddrill
Eyre Peninsula - Annie Lane
Northern and Yorke - Lynn Walden
South Australia's Arid Lands - Geoff Axford
South Australia's Murray Darling Basin - Hugo Hopton
South East - Tim Collins
Alinytjara Wiluara - Trevor Naismith - Create a 'one stop shop' whereby environment and natural resource services are found in the same location - each region will have a physical location (maybe several) and a virtual presence
- Work even more closely with local communities with an emphasis on engaging, collaborating and partnering
- Shift to a landscape scale approach to manage natural resources across both public and private lands.
A Regional Integration Taskforce is leading this work with a key aim to manage the various changes in a consultative way. The Taskforce is made up of several internal (agency) and external groups and committees that each has a role in guiding the project.
Regional Integration Advisory Committee
One of these committees is the Regional Integration Advisory Committee (RIAC) which the CCSA CE, Tim Kelly, has a position on. This committee was established early this year to provide strategic advice on reforming and improving the delivery of NRM. The Advisory Committee will play a pivotal role in helping build on and improve relationships with key partners in the Regional Integration process as well as ensuring the consideration of community interests. This includes highlighting key issues that the environmental conservation sector might have through this reform process by facilitating the two-way flow of information.
Other members of this committee include: Former Presiding Member NRM Council (Sharon Starick), Presiding Members' Forum (Caroline Schaefer), Aboriginal representative (Klynton Wanganeen), Representative from Local Government Association (David Hitchcock) Representative from South Australian Farmers' Federation (Joe Keynes), Independent advisor (Dennis Mutton) and Executive Director Regional Services, DENR John Schutz .
Other mechanisms, soon to be established, will assist in implementing the proposed changes include the Delivery Partners Reference Group and the NRM Partners Network.
Delivery Partners Reference Group
A key role of the Delivery Partners Reference Group will be to provide advice to the Regional Integration Advisory Committee on opportunities for improving the regional delivery of NRM in SA through a range of community, industry and government agency partnerships.
Membership will be made up of key NRM delivery partners which include representatives of community groups and group sectors, industry groups and sectors, government agencies, local government sector and regional NRM organisations, reflecting the scale of actual or potential roles in regional NRM planning and delivery.
NRM Partners Network
This will operate primarily as an informal email network to distribute regular updates about Regional Integration and other NRM information as well as to strengthen existing partnership networks. It is anticipated that there will be broad membership to cover the breadth of environmental and NRM interests.
The Conservation Council of South Australia is working to maximise the improvements that can be achieved through the Regional Integration Process. We are also encouraging our members and stakeholders to actively and constructively engage in this process to ensure that we can lock in improvements and stronger engagement with all those involved in NRM delivery in the landscape.
2. State NRM Plan Review
The State NRM Plan (2006) is currently being reviewed with the new plan to be delivered to the Minister early in 2012. On completion the state will have a revised State NRM Plan that will play a central role in shaping natural resource management. The aim is to provide South Australian's with a strategic plan to be used as a tool and a guide for the management of natural resources across the state.
The project scope is addressing the following;
- Setting the natural resources management agenda,
- providing a framework for investment,
- identifying effective capacity building methodologies,
- promoting integration between all governments, regions and peak bodies,
- incorporating sound implementation planning to ensure successful delivery, and
- monitoring and evaluating the state and condition of the state's natural resources.
Last year CCSA hosted an information session on the State Plan revision and has also provided a range of feedback through stakeholder workshops and forums. Currently the State NRM Plan team are finalising the draft plan, aiming for release for a 2 month public consultation phase at the end of July. CCSA will keep you informed of opportunities to provide feedback.
3. Natural Resources Legislation Review
To date there have been 12 month and three year reviews of the legislation undertaken under the NRM Act (2004) . Conservation SA was consulted on the proposed amendments recommended from these phases of review and has for the most part endorsed them.
The aim of this review now is to:
- examine the legislative effectiveness of the current NRM Act 2004
- review the legislative effectiveness of the suite of NR related legislation
- determine opportunities for further legislative integration and linkages of NR related legislation
The Natural Resources related legislation includes:
- Natural Resources Management Act 2004
- Native Vegetation Act 1991
- Coast Protection Act 1972
- South Eastern Water Conservation and Drainage Act 1992
- Pastoral Land Management and Conservation Act 1989
- Dog Fence Act 1946
- National Park and Wildlife Act 1972 (wildlife provisions)
- River Murray Act 2003
- Development Act 1993 (interactions)
Other natural resources related legislation may also be considered for inclusion in the project scope.
In this review phase there has been some initial discussion with the conservation sector and CCSA has provided comment that is feeding into a discussion paper being developed for release later this year. There will then be a range of opportunities for the conservation sector to be consulted. Feedback on the Discussion paper will be analysed and proposals drafted by DENR on legislative amendments, policy revisions and administrat
