The Conservation of Freshwater Ecosystem Values (CFEV) program undertook an assessment of the conservation management priorities (CMP) of all freshwater ecosystems in Tasmania. The program was completed in 2008 and provides a Comprehensive, Adequate and Representative (CAR) assessment of freshwater ecosystems in the State.
The CFEV program completed a statewide audit and conservation evaluation of Tasmania's freshwater-dependent ecosystems, which used existing environmental data and expert knowledge to identify where aquatic values exist and their overall priority for conservation management. These two exercises formed integral parts of the CFEV assessment framework (see below).
The audit included an assessment of rivers (including riparian vegetation), wetlands, lakes and waterbodies, saltmarshes, estuaries, karst systems and groundwater-dependent ecosystem values.
The results of the CFEV assessment are held in the CFEV database. A comprehensive technical report, detailing the assessment framework, data limitations and results, is available and supports the CFEV database.
The CFEV assessment framework
The CFEV assessment framework (shown as a flowchart below) is driven by three main components (Naturalness (N), Representativeness (R) and Distinctiveness (D)), and consisted of two key steps – the statewide audit and conservation evaluation. Every river section, wetland, waterbody, saltmarsh, estuary and karst system in the state was assessed using the framework to assign Representative Conservation Value (RCV), Integrated Conservation Value (ICV) and/or Conservation Management Priority (CMP) rankings.
More details on what variables were used for each ecosystem theme can be found in the CFEV assessment framework summary, available on the CFEV Resources web page.