What is Natural Resource Management (NRM)?
Natural resource management seeks to manage our natural resources in a sustainable manner for the long term, achieving a balance between economic and social development and the need to protect the environment. The success of natural resource management is ultimately determined by the level of community involvement and the adoption of ecologically sustainable practices across the community.
The term ‘natural resources’ refers to a broad spectrum of environmental assets including:
air
water
land
plants
animals
micro-organisms
Individual assets are not isolated but are linked together to form natural systems of varying scale including:
rivers
lakes
wetlands
estuaries
coasts
forests
fields
geological systems
Natural resource management reflects these linkages within and between natural systems. It integrates the management of social, economic and environmental values by involving the community and industry in planning and decision making.
Natural Resource Management in Australia
Natural Resource Management has been fostered and developed in Australia over the past two decades by a number of Government programs, both Commonwealth and State, and through regional and local initiatives.
Funding assistance and support has been directed to hundreds of natural resource management projects and has encouraged broad community involvement: marshalling the commitment of community groups, land holders and land managers, all three tiers of government, and bodies dedicated to NRM program delivery.
More information can be found at the NRM Regions Australia website.
Tasmanian NRM Framework and Legislation
Tasmania has adopted an approach to natural resource management that aims at bringing together
industry
resource users
land managers
conservation interests
The Tasmanian Natural Resource Management Framework 2002 and the
Natural Resource Management Act 2002, provide a structure and mechanisms for delivering effective management of natural resources in the State.
Regional NRM organisations in Tasmania
There are three regional NRM organisations in Tasmania. More information including the 2030 NRM Strategy and regional boundaries can be found on the websites below:
Landcare Action Grants (LAG) Program
In 2024 the Tasmanian Government committed $900,000 over three years to expand the Landcare Action Grants (LAG) program as part of a larger package of initiatives with Landcare Tasmania. The LAG program provides State-funded grant opportunities to co-invest with farmers, Landcare and other community organisations on practical on-ground works for sustainable agriculture, landscape remediation and Rivercare type activities.
The scope of the program has now been expanded to include carbon farming initiatives, in order to access carbon markets, in particular the Australian Government’s Emission Reduction Fund, and with the potential to link these activities with the Government's Carbon Farming Advice Rebate.
The LAG program includes an open competitive small to medium grants component, and a landscape scale projects component for activities focussing on a particular region or catchment. Small and medium sized grants have been provided to eligible landholders across the State; while at a catchment level value-added projects are creating landscape scale change in conjunction with Landcare member groups.
LAG program objectives are to:
Improve landscape and riverine health, stability and resilience;
Support enhanced land management practices to reduce erosion and sedimentation;
Assist the community to holistically manage natural and productive land and waterways across the landscape; and
Provide opportunities for landholders to implement carbon farming initiatives in order to access carbon markets, in particular the Australian Government Emission Reduction Fund.
The second stage of funding for LAG Open Round 5 is underway with projects due to be completed in June 2025.