In November of 2000, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreed to a regional model for the delivery of the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality (the NAP). Following this, the NRM Ministerial Council adopted a regional delivery model for the Natural Heritage Trust (the NHT) and the National Landcare Program funding of environmental activities at a regional level. This formation was tasked with facilitating the integrated implementation of programs based on regional needs. Originally, six NRM regions were established across Western Australia, later reforming to seven; the boundaries of which were agreed to by the Australian and state government.
Currently, Western Australia consists of seven regional NRM bodies, with each responsible for developing and implementing regional NRM plans relevant to their respective areas. Unlike other jurisdictions across Australia, WA’s regional bodies are not founded on any legislative basis and are not catchment management authorities. Rather, the Western Australian regional bodies are incorporated entities, originally based on existing advisory committees following the identification of priority regions under the National Action Plan.
Management committee/board membership of the seven regional bodies is set out in each organisation’s constitution. Membership varies across the organisations, however, all constitutions state that members must demonstrate a connection to the region. Membership of each governing body incorporates members of the community, including local government, First Nations, natural resource and land management interests.
For the past 25 years, WA’s seven Natural Resource Managers (NRMs) have worked with local communities and Traditional Owners to identify and address environmental issues that limit WA’s environmental, economic and social prosperity within their regions. NRMWA was established in 2024 with the intention of addressing state-level and landscape-scale issues that span the boundaries of the regional bodies. Among other primary considerations, biodiversity is recognised as the highest priority, encouraging an environment that supports regenerative agriculture and sustainable pastoralism and farming.
The members of NRMWA are:
Together, these five local organisations work collaboratively to implement, complete and report on landscape scale projects designed to drive the environmental, economic and social prosperity of WA.
