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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.
Australia's Natural Resources
1997-2002 and beyond
National Land and Water Resources Audit, 2002
Applying Audit Findings & Methods
As Audit products have been completed, they have been progressively made available and tested.
Uses of Audit products
- As part of the Australian Water Resources Assessment 2000 activities, the Western Australian Water and Rivers Commission revised its surface water and groundwater data systems, improving them at the same time as collating data. The Audit's Australia-wide report has since been complemented by the State-wide report published by the Western Australian Water and Rivers Commission. Western Australia continues to build on the Audit activities by developing water resource information and monitoring systems to link with water resource data.
- The Australian groundwater flow system classification was developed as part of the Audit's Australian Dryland Salinity Assessment 2000 activities to provide a technical framework for a hydro-geological assessment and the identification of salinity management options. This technical framework has now been refined at regional scales and adopted by the Murray-Darling Basin Commission; Department of Primary Industries, Water and Environment, Tasmania; Department of Water Land and Biodiversity Conservation, South Australia; Department of Natural Resources and Mines, Queensland; and catchment management groups across Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.
- The groundwater flow systems classification has also been used as a basis for defining monitoring and evaluation guidelines for the Natural Heritage Trust extension and National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality.
- The South Australia Department of Environment and Heritage has already adopted the National Vegetation Information System database and mapping framework developed in the Australian Native Vegetation Assessment 2001 as part of its core operational and data management activities. Other States and Territories are reviewing their data management systems with an Australia-wide commitment to migrate to the National Vegetation Information System.
- Rangelands Australia, based at the University of Queensland in Gatton, is using the rangelands theme report Rangelands—Tracking Changes as a basic input to short courses offered in 2002. Like many other universities, it recognises the Australian Natural Resources Atlas as a valuable information resource for the graduate and postgraduate courses. (JA Taylor, Rangelands Australia, pers. comm. 2001).
- The Audit's work on sediment and nutrient loads and transport down rivers, described in Australian Agriculture Assessment 2001, was the main river by river modelled input used to calculate water quality targets for Great Barrier Reef catchments. These Audit data, together with a number of data sets collected in the field, were used by scientists from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and Australian Institute of Marine Science to determine the targets. Work continues to refine targets. Community groups such as the Fitzroy Basin Association and the Mackay-Whitsunday Water Quality Group are using the Audit data to help identify key sites and subcatchments for erosion control activities.
- The Murray-Darling Basin Commission used the results of the Assessment of River Condition from Australian Catchment, River and Estuary Assessment 2002 as the primary source of data, methods and information for its publication Snapshot of Murray-Darling Basin River Condition.
- As a result of the Audit, the Cooperative Research Centre for Coastal Zone, Estuary and Waterway Management and lead State agencies have formed a consortium for Australia-wide estuary monitoring and management, building an Australia-wide approach to estuary management. An estuary management handbook is being developed with support from the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation.
- The foundation agreement between the Audit and Australia New Zealand Land Information Council, for the provision of government-held spatial data for use in mapping Australia's natural resources, has now been adopted by the Australia New Zealand Land Information Council as a model agreement between Commonwealth, State and Territory agencies for the sharing of natural resource spatial data including those from the Natural Heritage Trust and the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality.
- The Audit's work across Commonwealth agencies highlighted the need for an improved policy and approach to access and use of Commonwealth spatial data. The Commonwealth Government through Cabinet has endorsed proposals for revised policy and the formation of the Commonwealth Office of Spatial Data Management—building on the Audit experiences and extending the concept to spatial data management across all disciplines as well as natural resources.
- The Western Australia Land Information System (WALIS) has adopted and adapted the MapMaker software developed for the Australian Natural Resources Atlas to replace and upgrade their community information delivery systems. The Department of Natural Resources and Mines, Queensland is doing likewise.
- A comprehensive review of Audit findings is providing input to the policy and program development of the Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council's Land, Water and Biodiversity Advisory Committee.