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In this section you will find detailed information, including national overviews and state and regional level assessments, from the 2000-2002 National Land and Water Resources Audit theme assessments.
Australian Catchment, River and Estuary Assessment 2002
National Land and Water Resources Audit, 2002
ISBN 0 642 37125 3
Meeting Audit Objectives
Objective 1.Clear understanding of the status of, and changes in, the nation's land, vegetation and water resources and implications for their sustainable use.
- Understanding of the drivers of change, and process linkages between ecosystems is necessary to meet this objective. The integrated biophysical frameworks used in Australian Catchment, River and Estuary Assessment 2002 identify key processes affecting the condition of these systems and the implications of existing resource use patterns, for their sustainable use.
Objective 2. Providing an interpretation of the costs and benefits - economic, environmental and social - of land and water resource change and any remedial actions.
- Cause of problems and key remedial actions were identified partially meeting this objective. Preliminary overview of the economic and social values of these public resources is presented.
- The Audit report Australians and Natural Resources (in prep.) provides further information on economic and social aspects of natural resources management including an assessment of the costs of poor water quality.
Objective 3. Developing a national information system of compatible and readily accessible resource data.
- The river assessment initiative as a framework for continued monitoring and assessment has defined river reaches across Australia. These river reaches provide a fundamental data set on which to base management as well as information collection and will be refined and agreed to as part of ongoing Audit activities.
- The Audit estuary assessment has built on a prior database and, through the Atlas, now provides a database framework and information set to continually monitor and assess the condition of Australia's estuaries. The challenge of coordinating this task Australia-wide has been taken up through the Cooperative Research Centre for Coastal Zone, Estuary and Waterway Management, building on partnerships established by the Audit across Australia.
- The catchment assessment initiative has developed a method for displaying and integrating information across biophysical datasets - a key tool to aid decision makers in setting priorities and targets for both protective management and remedial action.
- Consistent resource assessment methods applied Australia-wide for Australian Catchment, River and Estuary Assessment 2002 have delivered compatible national information products. These are available at a range of scales and readily accessible through the Australian Natural Resource Atlas.
Objective 4. Producing national land, vegetation and water - surface and groundwater - assessments as integrated components of the Audit.
- The Audit has attempted integration across the biophysical environment in a catchment context. While much remains to be done, the systems-based research underpinning the Audit is already recognised as world-leading.
- Australian Catchment, River and Estuary Assessment 2002 is an integrated component of the Audit, building on Audit outputs (e.g. water, vegetation and land use activities).
Objective 5. Ensuring integration with, and collaboration between, other relevant initiatives.
- As noted in the Acknowledgement section all activities in this assessment would not be possible without partnerships across science, agencies and industry.
Objective 6. Providing a framework for monitoring Australia's land and water resources in an ongoing and structured way.
- Working Australia-wide across jurisdictions Australian Catchment, River and Estuary Assessment 2002 has facilitated the development of new assessment and reporting frameworks for catchments, rivers and estuaries. Examples include the OzEstuaries database, estuary categorisation and river reaches. These will continue to provide a framework for monitoring of Australia's land and water resources beyond the life of the current Audit.
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