rcs development MAKE A COMMENT

assumptions, risks and adaptive management

Both short-term and long-term risk factors will influence the success of the RCS in developing pathways toward its Goals and mobilising the community’s resources and resourcefulness. These risks relate to the social, economic and institutional setting in which the RCS must operate. Some will depend on the way the RCS is developed and marketed, while others will be more external to the Region.

9.1 RCS assumptions may need to be changed

It is unlikely that the suite of biophysical threats to the Region’s assets will change very much over the planning period being considered. However, it is possible that relative emphasis may change in response to natural variations.

Societal factors can change much more quickly and may overtake assumptions of the RCS. For example, trading conditions for the farming and urban industries respond to international factors. The ability of the community to respond to catchment challenges is affected immediately, for better or worse. There could also be a switch in government policy away from community environmental groups in favour of direct public expenditure, and this would change a key assumption of the RCS.

9.2 factors affecting the CCMA’s role in implementing the RCS

A key risk management strategy with respect to altered assumptions and circumstances is the ability to re-direct resources and effort through the annual Resource Management Planning process. The following processes can supplement this.

Considering more flexible public sector financial accounting systems, including, for example, accrual accounting. This includes considering more flexible carry-over with the ability to advance funds to agreed recipients where funding has been approved but not yet transferred from a public funding agency to a Corangamite agency. The “bulk funding” approach proposed by the Australian Government for accredited Regional Catchment Strategies is a first step in this process, and
Giving the CCMA a degree of regional financial independence.

9.3 conflict resolution

The future for natural resource management in the Corangamite Region requires resolution of conflict-laden issues and options. There are numerous examples. Nine local municipalities, responding to their particular electorates, have adopted varying controls on land use development and management across the Region. Southern Rural Water clearly has difficult decisions to make over sharing stressed resources, and it would seem that future action on lakes may require some hard decisions. Forest management on public lands is clearly a controversial issue that has repercussions in terms of pressure on private land use and management. Additional demands on private landowners for environmental improvement provoke issues about who pays. Community environmental groups have their own ideas about what is best for the environment or sustainable management in their particular areas, meaning that in many cases, their recruitment to Regional objectives will require negotiation.

9.4 national and state attention to southern victorian NRM

For years the southern rural parts of Victoria have not attracted the attention of successive Victorian and Australian governments in relation to natural resource management. Yet, considered from many points of view, this is where the highest-valued natural assets reside. This is true, for example, in terms of land values, the forest estate, increasingly scarce water, and tourism opportunities.

The key risk management strategy for the Corangamite Region in this regard is to:

collaborate with other southern regions that share common risks, and facilitate the communication of risks and opportunities jointly to higher levels of government, and
ensure that public resources are adequate for ‘proper’ management of public lands.

9.5 other regional NRM agendas and strategies need to align with the RCS

The RCS has taken a comprehensive approach to natural resource and environmental management issues in the Corangamite Region from a sustainable development perspective. It should be possible for other strategies to align with the thrust of the RCS, leading to greater effectiveness across the whole suite of government and non-government agents of NRM in the Region.

Key risk management approaches in this regard include:

development of a small number of integrated “Regional Projects” which bring together all necessary program inputs and strongly involve the local community
embedding the process institutionally, by follow-up and adaptation, especially through the Stakeholder Agreement Process, and
ensuring that the community within the Region unequivocally support the goals and priorities of the RCS

9.6 clarifying the CCMA’s role for the community

The catchment management structure in government should carefully consider whether the CCMA will continue to have the right mix of statutory responsibilities to undertake its catchment planning and all-important community relationships. Mixing regulatory responsibilities with the role of coordinating and encouraging community environmental initiative may be counter-productive.

9.7 satisfying the sustainable development philosophy

In developing the RCS a large amount of time and effort was put into capturing the community’s views about the risks to natural resources and the environment in the Corangamite Region. It became clear that societal threats were seen as being at least as important as the traditional agenda of biophysical threats to the Region’s natural assets.

The enormous asset that the Region’s natural endowments represent will be a key force in future economic prosperity. It is important that the economic drivers, which the community depends for its well-being, are integrated with environmental needs. Senior resource and environmental managers in the Region believe that sustainable development is possible, and goes hand in hand with prosperity. This depends on:

spreading the aspiration for achieving world-class environmental performance in the Region
a willingness to think through the tough land use and development decisions
a willingness of government to consider compensation where is it needed, whether this is for parties who may lose through the application of constraints, or those who are being required through increasingly tough environmental regulations to provide a public service to the community as a whole
overcoming the risk of “burn-out” of community environmental groups through sustained support, and
complementing the above by innovation in incentives that bring on side those in the community who subscribe to the RCS goals, but who do not wish to join a group.

9.8 the RCS is not a once off document

A significant risk is that the RCS will be regarded as a once-off effort that “stays on the shelf”. This would end the process that is being embarked upon as a joint effort of all stakeholders and the community, coordinated by the CCMA.

Key management approaches for this risk include early and sustained marketing of the concepts and approach of the RCS amongst all stakeholders (SEE/ Exploring the Communication Landscape: CCMA Communication Strategy and Plan 2002-2007).