Theme Leader: Paul Novelly Agriculture WA, Kununurra
Theme focus | Fire management | Land condition monitoring | Aboriginal managers | Highlights | Challenges | Future directions | Planned publications | Management Studies |
The TS-CRC defines Ecosystem Management as the integration of biophysical and ecological relationships within a socio-economic and values framework, with the general goal of ensuring long-term ecosystem integrity.
The theme adds to the definition of healthy landscapes; provides knowledge of the consequences and impacts of actions in ecological, economic and social terms; and provides options for both tactical managers and policy makers and the tools to help them make pro-active decisions.
All the projects linked to the Ecosystem Management theme progressed well during the year, and consequently the theme progressed as well. With fire a major issue in both north Australia and the Ecosystem Management theme, the substantial progress made in Fire and Savanna Landscapes continues to be significant. The theme workshop, held in November 1999, coordinated the production of the major communication output of this project to date: a book on fire management in north Australia aimed at fire managers.
Within Project 2.4.1, the two major NHT-funded projects addressing fire research, monitoring and management issues in the Cape York region and the Northern Territory (western Arnhem Land region and the Sturt Plateau/Victoria River District), were joined by a project in the Kimberley Region of Western Australia. All three projects are integrated, and involve numerous TS-CRC partners, as well as regional communities. These projects were funded mostly through the Natural Heritage Trust with the VRD component also funded through the TS-CRC as part of its VRD Management Study. The linkages provided by a study such as this and the coordinated outputs contribute substantially to the theme meeting its objectives.
The cooperative linkages developed between Agriculture Western Australia, CSIRO Divisions of Mathematics and Information Sciences and Wildlife & Ecology and NT Department of Lands, Planning & Environment played a significant part in extending Projects 3.1.1 and 3.1.2 into the NLWRA Rangeland Implementation project. Under this project the lead agencies in rangeland monitoring across northern Australia collaborated under a TS-CRC project sharing data and expertise across borders. This project has now delivered its final report to the Audit, and its outcomes will have a significant and substantial effect on monitoring savannas.
Mark Horstman in North Kimberley Traditional Owners' Land and Sea Management studied a specific human and social role in the savannas—the indigenous peoples—and how there are multiple ways of viewing savannas. This project produced some excellent results. Similarly, Dr Richard Davis (Aboriginal Pastoralists ) specifically addressed the ramifications of the increase in the number of Aboriginal communities managing pastoral leases, and how their associations with the land and the pastoral industry may differ from other operators. Taken together, these two projects make a significant contribution to the understanding of how indigenous peoples view rangelands.
The real highlight of the year was the continued development of linkages between parties to the TS-CRC, the projects and external agencies, and, consequently, contributions to the theme approach. As reported above, Project 2.4.1 had already established strong regional and national linkages, while Projects 3.1.1 and 3.1.2 brought together agencies involved in rangeland monitoring across northern Australia.
The association of the TS-CRC with the NLWRA's Rangeland Implementation Project was again a major highlight. The outcomes of this project and the ongoing increased collaboration among projects and parties confirmed the role of the TS-CRC as a major facilitator of integrated activities across the north of Australia. It highlighted the Centre's abilities to bring together state, territory and federal agencies without concern for state and territory borders, as well as providing the Ecosystem Management theme with a major focus for an important area of its work.
The challenges that the theme addresses are:
- What is the ecosystem capacity and how has this been affected by disturbance regimes?
- How do we (or even can we) define society's expectations?
- How do we reconcile the expectations from different groups with the sustainable capacity of the ecosystem?
In achieving this, the major barrier is still the wide geographical spread of the TS-CRC and the broad range of issues and stakeholders. In an era of increasing demand for resources and competition among users, the Centre acts as a bridge between stakeholders and a forum for their debates. However, this is not an easy task, and the Ecosystem Management theme (like the TS-CRC as a whole) continually has to balance its support among projects and proposals. Moreover, within the theme the concentration continues to be on the ecological/natural science aspects, with a continuing challenge to increase the role of socio-economic aspects into the theme's considerations.
Activities within the theme will generally continue towards these outputs as planned over the coming year. The outputs from the workshops and the projects (particularly the strong integrating projects) will continue to add to the theme.
With the finalisation of activities for the NLWRA, in particular the Rangeland Implementation Project, the coming year will see a major move to assist the implementation of many of the techniques defined under these activities and Projects 3.1.1 and 3.1.2. This will involve the state agency parties to the TS-CRC, as it is these agencies which are responsible for land management monitoring across the savannas. The linkage of the parties during the research phase will hopefully be reflected in similar integration in the development and implementation phases. The Ecosystem Management theme is primarily about developing tools and products to assist with management of the savannas, and this project will be a major contributor in this area.
Planned publications include management recommendations for the control of exotic species (particularly rubber vine Cryptostegia grandiflora) in riparian areas, using outputs from Project 3.3.2 Fire and the Management of Rubber Vine Infested Riparian Communities of Northern Australia, and a book on the management of fire in savanna lands (in conjunction with the other TS-CRC themes).
Finally, the further development of the Management Studies, which contribute greatly to this theme, will be actively pursued so that the opportunities provided by these activities are fully realised. The Desert Uplands work is being summarised and conclusions drawn, while the Victoria River District and Burdekin Management Studies will continue to contribute towards the development of integrated guidelines for sustainable management of grazing lands, and improved methods for monitoring and managing the impact of grazing, fire and weeds.
