Abstract
Abstract. Spatial information plays an important role in many social, environmental and economic decisions and increasingly acknowledged as a national resource essential for wider societal and environmental benefits. Natural Resource Management is one area where spatial information can be used for improved planning and decision making processes. In Australia, state government organisations are the custodians of spatial information necessary for natural resource management and regional NRM bodies are responsible to regional delivery of NRM activities. The access and sharing of spatial information between government agencies and regional NRM bodies is therefore as an important issue for improving natural resource management outcomes. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the current status of spatial information access, sharing and use with varying statutory arrangements and its impacts on spatial data infrastructure (SDI) development in catchment management sector in Australia. Further, it critically examined whether any trends and significant variations exist due to different institutional arrangements (statutory versus non-statutory) or not. A survey method was used to collect primary data from 56 regional natural resource management (NRM) bodies responsible for catchment management in Australia. Descriptive statistics method was used to show the similarities and differences between statutory and non-statutory arrangements. The key factors which influence sharing and access to spatial information are also explored. The results show the current statutory and administrative arrangements and regional focus for natural resource management is reasonable from a spatial information management perspective and provides an opportunity for building SDI at the catchment scale. However, effective institutional arrangements should align catchment SDI development activities with sub-national and national SDI development activities to address catchment management issues. We found minor differences in spatial information access, use and sharing due to varying institutional environment (statutory versus non-statutory). The non-statutory group appears to be more flexible and selfsufficient whilst statutory regional NRM bodies may lack flexibility in their spatial information management practices. We found spatial information access, use and sharing has significant impacts on spatial data infrastructure development in catchment management sector in Australia.
Highlights
Australia, like many developed countries, utilises a catchmentbased approach for the management of natural resources including land and water (Commonwealth of Australia 2000).The current approach to catchment management relies upon the cooperation of the three tiers of government and community
The similarities and differences that exist between statutory and non-statutory regional natural resource management (NRM) bodies in spatial information access, use, and sharing for catchment management activities are discussed
42% of non-statutory and 28% of statutory regional NRM bodies advised that restrictions were placed on the use of spatial information, these did not limit their ability to undertake Geographical Information System (GIS) activities
Summary
Like many developed countries, utilises a catchmentbased approach for the management of natural resources including land and water (Commonwealth of Australia 2000).The current approach to catchment management relies upon the cooperation of the three tiers of government and community. The Commonwealth Government provides the policy and financial support and fosters the catchment management strategies by participation in the strategy formulation process. It is responsible for ensuring Australia meets its international obligations in relation to the environment and the sustainable management of natural resources (Commonwealth of Australia 2000). The local government fosters community awareness and the formation of catchment care groups. It promotes the development of catchment management strategies and implements them with respect to the relevant parts of local authority plans and procedures (Paudyal, McDougall et al 2011)
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