What is NRM?
Natural Resource Management (NRM) is the protection and improvement of the natural assets that underpin our quality of life. All Australians benefit from good natural resource management and those natural assets – our land, water and biodiversity, and the climate are essential to our economy and the liveability of our cities and towns.
Effectively managing these resources requires a whole-of-landscape approach. By working with local communities to plan for how we manage these assets, coordinating on-ground land, water and biodiversity programs, and by working collaboratively with governments and other communities, regional NRM organisations enhance the liveability and productivity of our towns and cities.
We all rely on our environment for essential services such as food, water, clean air and a safe and regulated climate – alongside other crucial ecosystem services such as climate regulation, absorbing and transforming wastes, preventing disease and providing the genetic resources that are the basis for many medicines.
Australia’s environment provides Cultural and spiritual sustenance and is the foundation of our national identity as well as our lifestyle and economy.
Australia derives a significant proportion of our nation’s economic wealth from our environmental assets, including agriculture, mining and tourism. Our natural assets are expensive and often impossible to replace. If they are degraded, then our economy will bear the cost.
While most ecosystem services have not been assigned a monetary value, we can calculate figures for some of them. The Great Barrier Reef, for example, adds more than $5 billion to the Australian economy each year. Annual food exports – which depend on productive soils and water resources – are worth about $24 billion. Annual production losses due to environmental degradation costs us around $1.2 billion.
Australia’s vastness means that natural resource management policies must be agile enough to support diverse ecosystems and communities across the entire continent.
Queensland’s regional NRM organisations and their diverse partners provide this support in real-time and in practical ways, on-the-ground where it is needed most.
