Natural resource management

Published: 20 November 2018

Socio-Economic indicators—trends to 2018 is a chapter in the Australian forest and wood product statistics report series. The latest chapter is presents updated socio-economic indicators and trends for the forestry sector drawn from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2011 and 2016 Census of Population and Housing. These indicators build on the indicators presented in the AFWPS September and December quarters 2012, which reported data from the 2006 and 2011 Censuses.

Socio-economic indicators—trends to 2018

Published: 27 November 2014

This recommendations report is the final stage of a three year project ABARES has conducted to address improved reporting on social dimensions of forest and wood products industries (the forestry sector).

The report presents options to address key socio-economic data gaps for the forestry sector. Options include:

• scoping of a comprehensive national survey of the sector
• improved coordination that encourages consistency across surveys and funders
• developing new methods to improve employment data based on nationally representative surveys.

The report also presents an updated framework of indicators used in reporting social dimensions of the forestry sector in the Australian forest and wood products statistics series, and a description of regions for social indicator reporting.

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Published: 11 June 2024

This project was commissioned to measure the relative vulnerability of communities in the Murray-Darling Basin to changes in water availability.

This report builds on our 2012 report (Revised Indicators of community vulnerability and adaptive capacity across the Murray-Darling Basin) to provide a contemporary understanding of the relative vulnerability of communities in the Murray-Darling Basin to changes in access to water for irrigation, and the ability of communities to respond or adapt to changes.

In the 2024 report, we’ve updated the baseline community vulnerability index using the latest census data.

The outputs of the project can be used to help policymakers understand the relative sensitivity and adaptive capacity of Basin communities to a change in water access. They can also be used to work closely with communities in the Basin to help them better understand their own situations and what factors might contribute to changes in their communities.

In the 2024 update, we’ve included an interactive Tableau dashboard. This tool lets users access information that is relevant to their own local community.

A related research product is The impacts of further water recovery in the southern Murray–Darling Basin.

Published: 14 November 2008

This project reviews social research relating to values towards water, particularly the dynamic between environmental and productive values for water and the influence this may have on practice regarding changes to water access.

Part 1 of the report reviews literature about social values for water and provides an evaluation of institutional tools and mechanisms by which water values are negotiated in practice.

Part 2 builds on this work and investigates how values for water were negotiated in three empirical case studies of water allocation changes in rural and regional Australia.

The purpose of this discussion paper is to synthesise the key points from two reports prepared for the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts:

• Assessing a community’s capacity to manage change: A resilience approach to social assessment and
• Water for what? Productive and environmental values for water.

The reports investigate the values people hold for water and how this influences responses to changes in access to and allocations of water and include three case studies.

It is recommended that this discussion paper is read in conjunction with these two reports.

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Published: 9 October 2008

The purpose of this study was to develop a better understanding of the opportunities and constraints to recycled water investment in rural and regional areas of Australia for agricultural irrigation use.

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Published: 1 July 2002

Problems such as land salinisation and declining water quality have become of increasing concern to the Commonwealth Government.
The Commonwealth Government has increased its programs aimed at bringing about more sustainable land use.

Many of these programs seek to change the management behaviour of landholders.

From both a policy-development and a scientific perspective it is important to understand how people conceive of and respond to the need for sustainable land use.

This publication synthesises recent research by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, supported by the Social and Institutional Research Program of Land and Water, and the National Land and Water Resources Audit, on the capacity of landholders to adopt sustainable practices.

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Published: 26 June 2014

Overview

This study was commissioned by the Sustainable Resource Management Division of the Department of Agriculture (through the Caring for Our Country initiative) and focuses on the key factors landholders consider when making decisions to adopt specific land management practices. The management practices examined included best practice for cropping, grazing, management of native vegetation and management of weeds of national significance across broadacre, dairy and horticulture industries. This report presents a synthesis of results from the project including results from a national survey conducted in 2012-13 and comparison of these results with previously reported results from the same survey conducted in 2010-11.

Key Issues

This study captured information on influences on uptake of recommended farm management practices including information on the degree to which financial motivations interact with environmental factors and personal motivations. Key results included:

• most farmers were influenced by a multiplicity of motivations relating to financial, personal and environmental goals
• both financial benefits and environmental factors rated highly in influencing land and soil management practice decisions
• personal motivations which included a range of individual, family and community related motivations were of less influence, but still were important to some
• farmer production groups and landcare groups were selected by the majority of respondents as the most important source of support for land and soil management decisions.

The report also details profiles of adopters versus non adopters for each of the management practices investigated.

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Published 2004

This report presents findings from a mail survey of 1,943 landholders in the Glenelg Hopkins region in 2003. The survey focussed on gathering base-line information regarding the key social and economic factors affecting landholder decision making about the adoption of practices expected to improve the management of natural resources in the Glenelg Hopkins region. The Glenelg Hopkins CMA and the Bureau of Rural Sciences were the key project partners.

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Published 2004

This report presents a summary of key findings from a mailed survey to 1,000 landholders in the Burnett Mary region in 2004. The final response rate for this survey was 60 per cent. The survey gathered base-line information regarding the key social and economic factors affecting landholder decision-making about the adoption of practices expected to improve the management of natural resources in the Burnett Mary region.

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Published: 15 September 2006

This report presents a summary of key findings from a mailed survey to 1000 landholders in the Lachlan Catchment in 2003.
The survey focussed on gathering base-line information regarding the key social and economic factors affecting landholder decision-making about the adoption of practices expected to improve the management of natural resources in the Lachlan Catchment.

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Published: 22 November 2004

In this report, the National Land and Water Resources Audit has commissioned ABARE to review socioeconomic indicators relating to agricultural land managers. The focus is on indicators of the capacity and willingness of landholders to adopt sustainable farming and improved business management practices.

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