Australian Catchment, River and Estuary Assessment 2002

National Land and Water Resources Audit, 2002
ISBN 0 642 37125 3

Ways forward

Monitoring of catchment condition at an Australia-wide scale involves collecting a minimum data set that describes:

It will also take account of social and economic conditions and aspirations.

Include spatially referenced, land-use practice data to better interpret land use impacts
Develop regionally based, environmental performance thresholds and indicators as the basis for improved comparative assessments
Incorporate other functional landscape units such as bioregions or land systems into the assessment framework
Design decision support tools for evaluating options for land use change and improvement in land use practices as an input into priority setting at the catchment or regional scale

Make all of the Audit's Australia-wide data sets available for use in the catchment condition assessment
Make other data sets (e.g. climate variability, digital elevation models, salinity hazard, soil condition, floodplains and wetlands) available
Include social and economic data relevant to natural resource management to enable comparison of biophysical condition with social and economic opportunities

Develop minimum and agreed indicator sets, reference condition(s) and threshold values that quantify biophysical catchment condition
Maintain an inventory and quantitative definitions of the catchment management issues across Australia
Establish agreed regional and catchment management boundaries as a basis for setting priorities, monitoring activities and reporting progress

Link social and economic options with biophysical condition to test the likely outcomes of various management actions
Identify and apply different value sets for defining catchment condition so that regional groups can select those most appropriate to their community goals and expectations

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