The South Australian Murray-Darling Basin and the Eyre Peninsula regions cover an area of 125,000 square kilometres and directly support about 7% of the state's population. Within these areas there are more than 20 local governments, a plethora of commodity and community groups and a diverse range of industries, the majority of which are reliant on sustainable natural resource use and management.
Groups within the regions have been responsible for developing the regional NRM plans, in consultation with the local community. The plans are based on a 'whole of region' approach and address significant NRM issues incorporating social, environmental and economic aspects.
The NRM Boards have also been involved with developing the regional investment strategies which are essentially business plans to attract investment from the Australian and state governments. These plans detail the specific actions, costs and timeframes required to implement the regional plan.
Within the regions there are more than 80 local level community groups working to protect and manage the region's NRM interests. These community groups and land managers are supported by the Boards, which coordinates and provides a strategic approach to NRM across the regions. The local governments also play a significant role in planning approval, clearing controls, facilitation and in-kind support to the groups.
Coordination and collective action that is consistent with a more commonly articulated vision for each region will improve the effectiveness of achieving NRM objectives. Improved clarity on some shared and overlapping responsibilities is needed in some jurisdictional matters while development of a shared vision of the future regional landscape could assist common planning and implementation. Successful implementation and development of the regional plan will heavily depend on recruiting and retaining a range of skilled and committed people who connect with regional communities.