| Contacts
For more information about the CV and its activities contact: Roslyn Prinsley, RIRDC, phone 02 6271 4033, email roslyn.prinsley@rirdc.gov.au John McKenzie, John McKenzie and Associates, phone 0402 018 318, email mckenzj@ix.net.au
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Thank you. This newsletter is compiled by Anne Currey, Naturally Resourceful Pty Ltd. © Copyright Cooperative Venture for Capacity Building and Innovation in Rural Industries.
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Seeing one of our readers asked what research managed by the CV is directed at sustainable systems, we thought other might be wondering too. According to John McKenzie, Program Coordinator, the R&D is not specifically directed to “sustainable production systems” but more towards understanding the factors that might influence farmers, service providers and researchers develop and implement those systems. For example a project with the University of Melbourne is looking at how the use of triple bottom line thinking might change the way extension works with farmers. For mor information contact John, phone 02 6366 5000, email mckenz@ix.net.au
Helpline
What other experiences from more mature industries are out there? Email your ideas to anne@naturallyresourceful.com.au and I’ll email them to Ben, our reader and publish them in the next edition of the newsletter.
 Murray-Darling
Basin Leadership Program
The Program is an initiative of the MDB Ministerial Council and its Community Advisory Committee, and has been designed to develop the leadership skills, understanding and knowledge of those who will help to secure the future of the basin for the benefit of basin communities. The Program will be conducted during 2004 and requires participants to attend for around 20 days over a six-month period. Application forms are available from the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation, see website www.rural-leaders.com or contact Rob Patrick, Australian Rural Leadership Foundation, phone (02) 62810680, or Leith Boully, MDB Leadership Program Coordinator, mobile 0412 678 633. Applications close on 31 July 2003.
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In this issue:
The Australian rural community is struggling with what seems an ever growing list of natural resource management challenges – increasing salinity, strangled rivers, depleted groundwater, diminishing biodiversity, soil loss and degradation, and disappearing vegetation. In response, a raft of Federal and State Government legislation has been enacted in the last decade and an array of policies and programs implemented to improve the way we manage our landscapes. Many of these regulations, policies and programs are single issue focused and seek to achieve an outcome that is prescribed by people other than the land manager. It is arguable that these interventions do not sufficiently take account of the human dimension and how we come to accept and implement change. Further, it is arguable that they do not have a sound ecological foundation in that they do not reflect the interactive nature of the elements of and the complexity of ecosystems. A different, and potentially more effective, way of achieving improved natural resource management is to view Australian farmers and other land managers as being on a journey of discovery; a journey to discover how better to live in Australian landscapes. For this they need to develop and apply adaptive management techniques so they learn on the way. They truly are knowledge workers acting on behalf of all Australians, for the present and future generations. Adapting the words of Mandy Sayer, University of NSW 2002 Literary Fellow, they will need the rewarding experiences, the surprises, and the discoveries that can only come from a focus on the process. According to Sayer, it is our preoccupation with outcomes and universal prescriptions that interfere with the journey. The challenge for policymakers and agencies involved with those who manage our land and water resources is to acknowledge the value of the “rewarding experiences, the surprises and the discoveries” and incorporate the ethic of capacity building and creativity in their policies and programs. We’d be interested in your reactions to this. How do you acknowledge the value of these rewarding experiences, surprises and discoveries and, as important, persuade the organisation you work for to value them too?
When we think of people on the land, often the image that comes to mind is of the archetypal broadacre farmer or pastoralist we see so often in the media. Akubra hat, riding boots, born on the land and usually working a property worked by their forebears. There is another group of people on the land whose numbers are steadily increasing who don’t fit this image. And their activities and practices can have a huge impact on natural resource management. These are the owners of small properties. Rural landscapes are changing as many Australians are now seeking rural lifestyles on small parcels of the land around and beyond the peri-urban fringe. These people might run semi viable properties full time or support themselves with a job in town. Often they are “townies” or professional people who have retired to the country or young families doing their seachange. Living in the country and earning from the land may seem an attractive liflestyle but how do these people gain the skills needed to run properties in an economically and environmentally sustainable way? It’s not good enough to say that they can access the services provided by traditional agriculture agencies. A Cooperative Venture research project, Improving delivery mechanisms for sustainable land management in the small farm sector, has found that these services often don’t suit the needs of small property owners. According to project manager, Carole Hollier, preliminary research shows that small and lifestyle farmers are faced with many complex environmental issues and they are unsure how to deal with them. In many cases the sector has been largely overlooked in mainstream industry extension activities and marginalised in some farming communities. Information produced for farmers is often not suited to the needs of this group, and many find it difficult to put the theory into best practice for a variety of reasons. These farmers have a decided preference for one-on-one communication. With the shift away from this approach by government departments this news would send a shiver down the spine of many extension managers. With off-farm work (and income) being a significant characteristic of the sector, time constraints were also identified as a major barrier to carrying out natural resource management activities. This increasing dependence on off-farm income is a realignment of the concept of what makes a farmer and may have significant implications for the sustainability of local rural community organisations. These factors all represent a challenge for agencies, local government and community groups in meeting the information and other needs of this group of farmers, whose potential to affect NRM is growing. Are there support structures in place? What does improved information delivery mechanisms to enhance sustainable rural property management look like? Should these people be supported with services at all or left to fend for themselves? If that is the case is it inequitable considering the resources devoted to supporting the traditional farming community, e.g. through departments of primary industries/ agriculture and natural resource management? These are just some of the questions we should be asking ourselves if these people are to build their capacity to run their small properties in a sustainable way. For more information contact Carole Hollier, phone 02 6030 4500, email carole.hollier@nre.vic.gov.au. 
There’s a lot of research into the subject of capacity building going on out there. One the Cooperative Venture’s partners, Land & Water Australia, has a number of projects in place researching different aspects of capacity building. One being managed through the National Riparian Lands R&D Program that is just about finished is Overcoming constraints to implementation of sound riparian management - Assessing Community Capacity through Riparian Restoration. This project, undertaken by Don Thomson and Sharon Pepperdine, has assessed whether community based projects funded through the Program have built capacity within the communities that managed them, for long-term change in their approach to river and riparian management. The project has identified some critical success factors and is now developing a self-assessment tool for individuals and communities to help them work out their capacity to take on restoration projects, and where they can best target their restoration activities efforts. A recent workshop brought together a range of people working in the area of capacity building to review the self-assessment tool. The feedback from the workshop is now being incorporated into the tool, and the final report for the project is expected at the end of May 2003. The self-assessment tool will then be piloted for six months and further refinements made based on results. The next edition of the RipRap newsletter has as its theme Building Capacity for Riparian Restoration and will cover the outcomes of this research project, as well as other capacity building projects underway at Land & Water Australia, Bureau of Resource Sciences, Rural Industries R&D Corporation and Greening Australia. If you are interested in getting a copy of RipRap go to the www.rivers.gov.au website and subscribe http://www.rivers.gov.au/ publicat/riprap/index.htm. For more information contact Dr Siwan Lovett, Program Coordinator - National Riparian Lands R&D Program, Land & Water Australia, phone 02 6257 9821, email: siwan.lovett@lwa.gov.au. |