Developing adaptation pathways for NRM in Southern Australia: a research-practice collaboration

Australia’s Natural Resource Management (NRM) bodies provide regional, strategic frameworks that inform other agencies in sustainably managing biodiversity, land, coasts, and water. These organisations are developing plans that seek to address both climate change mitigation (through biodiverse carbon plantings) and adaptation for the complex social-ecological systems that catchments represent. This paper discusses a research-practice partnership between nine regional NRM organisations, three Universities and a State Government agency, focused on development of those plans, including supportive engagement and implementation strategies.

Through interviews, workshops, observations and reflective practice, this collaborative project is investigating how research can better inform NRM decision-making, what institutions and processes can better link various sciences and NRM planning, and what enables and constrains adaptive planning and implementation in these boundary organisations.

The paper highlights current findings regarding theoretical and practical aspects of planning for climate change in NRM, and the effectiveness of participatory research methods for facilitating transformative change in adaptation planning. It discusses participant demand for fit-for-purpose guiding processes that support robust decision-making, over the need for more technical information and uncertainty reduction. In doing so, the paper highlights an ‘adaptation pathways approach’ as a way of planning for managing for change in NRM.