Australia is in a unique position of having a strong infrastructure of regional natural resource management (NRM) organisations that cover the entire country. Each NRM region has a unique Regional NRM Plan that prioritises local issues and actions.
This gives Australia's governments, businesses and industry a place to go when considering how to integrate their work into different regions around the country in a locally appropriate way. If you are looking to partner with a regional NRM, their Regional Plan is a great place to start.
Regional NRM organisations work with land managers, communities and industries across Australia to manage our land, water, coast, plants and animals for the benefit of people, environment and economy.
There are 54 regional NRM bodies in Australia that have formal boards of directors and strong governance arrangements. Each region has a Regional NRM Plan that is developed in consultation with local people and organisations. Regional NRM Plans are a great way to explore the priorities and projects planned and underway in any region of Australia.
The regional NRM Plans across the country are reviewed every five years - they have many common characteristics that identify strategic priorities, align with existing effort, are participatory, based on scientific evidence and community knowledge, have scalable levels of planning and identify partners for delivery.
The main differences in Regional NRM Plans are driven by their jurisdictional structures and delivery model. This does not impact their usefulness in determining regional priorities for investment, it reflects differences in the regional organisation's operating environment.
NRM Regions Australia works with regional NRM organisations to draw a voice to how we manage the land to ensure a healthy country, viable and resilient communities and sustainable industries today and into the future.
The regional NRM model is about the regional bodies working together and partnering with a range of people across the country through programs of support for rural and regional communities, bringing together ideas and information on how we promote growth, development and greater prosperity. NRM Regional Plans enable partners to connect to local priorities and projects so that partnerships formed implement work that is regionally relevant.
The value of NRM Planning
Regional NRM Planning reflects the complex landscapes across Australia and the land management issues our regions are facing. The Plans integrate local environmental and land use priorities and outline activities that will build resilience to a changing climate.
NRM Plans reflect the issues individual regions are facing. They evolve over time to cover the issues of the day and serve to guide strategic decision making in each region.
These documents cover a wide breadth of integrated landscape scale challenges from land, water, ecosystems, cultural heritage, community, industry and climate change.
NRM Regions
By State / Territory
Updates and Accessibility
The Regional NRM Plans are periodically reviewed to ensure that they are fit for purpose; addressing regional NRM priorities, meeting the needs of the community and accommodating emerging threats and opportunities.
Rigorous monitoring, evaluation, reporting and improvement processes are embedded into the NRM Plans. This ensures that intended outcomes are clearly articulated and that progress in their delivery can be monitored and reviewed. This also enables the plans to be adapted over time.