directions MAKE A COMMENT

goals and targets

10.1 goals

The Goals capture the community’s aspirations for natural resource management over the next 20 years. They describe what must be achieved by 2020, but in all cases, the sooner these Goals are reached the better. The scope of the Goals is broader than simply the health of the environment, and extends to the way enterprises, individuals and communities use natural resources and the way society manages human activity. For this reason, strong contributions are needed from organisations outside the traditional natural resource management field.

The Goals raise the question of how to strike a balance between economic, environmental and social benefits. This is a major social task to be worked out at local, sub-Regional and Regional levels.

10.2 targets and responsibilities

The RCS so far has described the natural and environmental assets of the Region, their current condition and trends. After examining the forces and threats impacting on these assets, stakeholders have established goals and built a vision for the Region (Chapter 1).

To achieve this vision, targets have been set on the basis of priority threats to the assets. In establishing the targets, various National, State and Regional plans and strategies, as shown in Figure 1, Corangamite RCS integrates planning, have been utilised to ensure integration and consistency.

Though there is little reliable trend data to date, there is confidence that the targets are realistic and achievable.

It is stressed that these are preliminary targets, and they will be successively refined or modified during 2003/2004 as new information comes to hand. The nationally agreed Accreditation Criteria under the National Framework for NRM Standards and Targets, expects that regional resource condition and management action targets will be established by late 2004.

Aspirational targets were developed through discussions with key stakeholders and the community. The Aspirational Targets cover a 20-50 year time frame and help provide a longer-term focus to achieve specific regional outcomes. The Aspirational targets for the Corangamite Region are:

• Table 28 - Demands for water use balanced and managed in all four river basins
• Table 29 - Healthy rivers and streams, lakes and wetlands
• Table 30 - Land managed sustainably to support agricultural and other production
• Table 31 - Infrastructure protected from flood and salinity risks, and other disasters
• Table 32 - Healthy estuaries, coasts and marine ecosystems
• Table 33 - Achieve a net gain in quantity and quality of native vegetation across the entire landscape
• Table 34 - Improved conservation status of all native vegetation communities and flora species
• Table 35 - Improved conservation status of all native fauna species, and
• Table 36 - Cohesive, innovative communities, that value and protect natural resources and participate in planning for the future

The way to achieve the Aspirational Targets are more clearly defined by the Resource Condition Targets which are defined by a 10 to 20 year timeframe, and represent the key improvements to environmental, social and economic assets. The key high priority actions to achieve this improvement are defined by the Management Action Targets.

The logic and linking of the goals through to annual projects are further defined in Figure 5 - Program logic for the corangamite regional catchment strategy

Wherever possible, targets are expressed in terms of desired asset condition or social/ environmental/ economic impacts. Alternatively, they are expressed as activities necessary to improve our knowledge of the natural environment so that realistic resource condition targets may be established in future. For some issues, establishing operating rules for ecosystems may be more meaningful than to specifically target resource condition.

The Resource Condition and Management Action Targets selected in Tables 28-36 have been developed through the delineation of the Regions assets, stakeholder involvement and directions from the Supporting Strategies

Whilst the RCS sets out a ‘blueprint’ for achieving the vision, it is supported by a range of supporting strategies and plans. These documents provide much of the operational detail and targets necessary to implement the Regional Catchment Strategy. Examples of these plans include the Draft River Health Strategy, Draft Native Vegetation Plan, Rabbit Action Plan and Weed Action Plan (as detailed in Figure 1 - Corangamite RCS integrates planning).

A number of these plans and strategies are currently in draft and as a result, a number of the targets may be changed on completion of these Supporting Strategies.

Differences in expected timing for achieving various targets is taken into account in the RCS Investment Framework and Plan (see RCS Report 11).

Responsibility for achieving the RCS targets is shared by all agencies that have a role in natural resource management for the Region. Responsibilities for natural resource management are described further in Chapter 12, “Natural Resource Management Arrangements in the Region”.