Did you know?
Petioles are ideal for monitoring nitrate-N and potassium concentrations until mid-flowering. Beyond flowering, leaf tests are a better method of monitoring crop nutrition.
Darbas et al (2005 p1) were commissioned by the Cotton Catchment Communities CRC to scope the current state of play of natural resource governance in the cotton industry in order to formulate sound parameters for a larger research proposal. Stakeholders reported a lack of integration in policy development between: different levels of government; production and conservation sectors; government and industry; and between individual Natural Resource Management (NRM) issues. Marginalization of interest groups, inadequate representation of growers’ positions, polarity of NRM issues between sectors and the lack of integration of policy development and implementation across and between sectors and scales were seen as major issues affecting the ability of people to cooperate in order to manage natural resources. Regardless the majority of stakeholders were cautiously optimistic (Darbas et al 2005 p26) drawing on experiences of recent innovative coordination processes initiated in the state of Queensland. It was also hoped that decentralized NRM would assist in the realization of this opportunity.
This study will review experiences of attempts to achieve integrated NRM by industry, growers, regional bodies, conservation groups and multiple levels of government so as to identify the nature of integrated NRM that has developed against the back drop of decentralized governance relevant to the cotton growing regions of Queensland and New South Wales. Such experiences include Queensland’s Farm Management System (FMS) Program and the Federal Government’s Great Barrier Reef Rescue Program and regional projects such as the Condamine Alliance Delivering increased adoption of best management practices in water use efficiency to the Cotton Industry in the Condamine Catchment and Namoi Catchment Management Authority and Cotton CRC three year partnership.
This review will draw upon the governance and social capital (i.e. the ability and willingness of people and organizations to work together) literature to provide a framework that explains the type and nature of the integrated NRM that has developed. This timely research will facilitate industry understanding of the drivers and barriers for integrated NRM. This will allow the industry to plan future policy development and implementation that is more conducive to integrated NRM and the associated benefits of reduced duplication and improved efficiency, effectiveness and morale.
