As the peak body, NRM Regions Australia promotes the importance and value of regional natural resource management at a national level. The 54 regional NRM organisations that cover Australia’s land, estuarine and coastal areas provide an essential service for all Australians.
We work hard to support and enable our members including running national NRM events, including an annual CEOs conference and a national NRM conference; supporting learning and networking through our communities of practice, online community channels and webinar series; brokering partnerships and collaborations to extend our members’ work and build knowledge within and outside the NRM sector; and showcasing the leadership, experience and contribution of NRM people and organisations.
NRM Regions Australia works with its members, governments and partners towards the continuous improvement of natural resource management in Australia, to support productive, sustainable rural industries and nature-rich landscapes and waters.
We run a number of Communities of Practices (CoPs) in key topic areas to connect and support regional NRM staff across Australia.
CoP activities are informed by the people who attend, with CoP members able to nominate topics of interest, and share and extend knowledge in their peer group. NRM staff of all abilities are welcome to join our CoPs – the goal is to learn and share.
Work for a regional NRM organisation?
Covering all aspects of biosecurity, the CoP presents updates and discussion into governance & policy, disease, pests and weeds. The CoP is lead by Knowledge Broker, Justin Bellanger who hails from WA, and who also sits on multiple working groups and committees in the biosecurity space at both the regional and national levels.
A key part of the CoP is hearing what is happening at a national level as well as from practitioners from across the regions; their challenges, progress and successes.
The CoP meets online quarterly, hosts webinars hearing from experts and regional NRM staff about range of biosecurity initiatives, knowledge and tech. Members are able to join an online community channel to receive updates plus a quarterly newsletter. The team are continuing to expand the NRM Regions Australia knowledge hub in all areas of biosecurity.
Championed by Rachel Clarke and meeting every 6-8 weeks since 2021.
NRM staff from across Australia meet to discuss the latest updates in carbon and environmental markets, share insights into their organisations work in the carbon and environmental markets space, and to build their knowledge to support landholders and communities in their region to make informed decisions around carbon and environmental markets. Each CoP meeting features a knowledge topic speaker of relevance to the group – you can check out the NRM Regions Australia YouTube channel for some of the published presentations.
Nature-based Solutions* (NbS) are core business for NRM, and are regularly used in sustainable agriculture, habitat restoration, and threatened species conservation. NbS also reduce risk associated with disasters like floods and fires, and this is a growing area of work for NRMs.
This CoP focuses on how we can design and use NbS to improve disaster resilience and adapt to climate risks, while improving biodiversity outcomes. We share knowledge about projects that are underway in NRM regions, learn from global examples and standards, and explore the financing avenues and opportunities that can enable this work.
The CoP meets online every 6-8 weeks and includes opportunities for attendees to share challenges, successes, and lessons from their own work, and also have guests and presentations to share information about advances in the field, project developments, funding opportunities etc.
*Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are activities that improve outcomes for biodiversity and use nature as a solution to tackle important challenges like food and water security, climate adaptation, and disaster risk reduction.
As the national voice for the sector, NRM Regions Australia writes and contributes to research, policy and other processes to champion regional NRM objectives and contributions. You can find our submissions, reports and other publications that we have led and contributed to here. Members are always welcome to contribute their knowledge and experiences- email us or visit ‘Our staff’ to find the best person to help.
