Jim Cavaye

The great experiment with devolved NRM governance: lessons from community engagement in Australia and New Zealand since the 1980s

Since the 1980s, natural resource management (NRM) in Australia and New Zealand has been an ambitious experiment with community engagement. Underpinned by theory about public participation, adult education and agricultural extension, but also influenced by neoliberalisms calls for ‘smaller government’, governments embraced engagement as a cost-effective approach to effecting change. Critiques of community engagement are often misguided as they are frequently based on inauthentic or poor engagement practices. Moreover, these critiques have often failed to grasp the nature of the problems being addressed, acknowledge the contributions of engagement or understand the importance of building adaptive capacity to respond to an increasingly complex and uncertain future. The foundations for this commissioned article emerged at a workshop where we reflected and deliberated on our experience as NRM researchers and practitioners over the past 20 years. We begin by identifying the key theories underpinning community engagement and community-based NRM (CBNRM). We then reflect on the experience with community engagement in NRM over the past 20 years and identify key lessons for practitioners and policy makers. Drawing on these insights, and the developing theory around new governance and resilience thinking, we identify opportunities for community engagement under a range of possible futures.

Use of coal seam water for agriculture in Queensland, Australia

ABSTRACT The development of the coal seam gas industry in Australia has led to the extraction of large volumes of relatively salty groundwater. Once treated, this coal seam water (CSW) is being made available for irrigation and it is an opportunity for landholders to increase the level and reliability of their agricultural production. This paper reviews the use of CSW and approaches to sustainable agriculture. The review suggests that, barring technical and economic constraints, re-injection of treated CSW into stressed agricultural aquifers may provide more equitable access to water and broader economic benefits than current location-specific irrigation schemes.

Community-Led Engagement With Government and the Role of Community Brokers in East New Britain, Papua New Guinea

ABSTRACT The form of engagement between communities and government is important in determining outcomes in natural resource management, of what resources are negotiated, how resources are managed, who participates, and the distribution of benefits. In two case study communities in East New Britain, Papua New Guinea, engagement depended on the clan and community allegiances of community leaders to their elected representatives. These leaders acted as “community brokers” who negotiated and influenced community access to government decision-making, government access to community members, and government support for local projects. They represented community members through informal lobbying and mobilizing their support base through institutional networks, particularly during election campaigns. Government was perceived by communities as a source of resources. The participation of community groups in decision making and their access to public resources depended on the successful election and lobbying support of their leaders with local political candidates. Community brokers facilitated a political system that served a few select interest groups.

Evaluating the community outcomes of Australian learning community initiatives: innovative approaches to assessing complex outcomes

Learning communities are towns, cities, or regions where a series of actions are implemented to enhance lifelong learning and community capacity. These efforts include improving access to further education, mentoring, increasing opportunities for informal learning, sharing skills across sectors, and supporting innovation and entrepreneurship. In Australia, over 45 learning communities are contributing to social capital, social inclusion, and local partnership development. The outcomes of learning communities have been difficult to evaluate. Evaluation frameworks have been developed to assess a range of aspects of learning community outcomes. A key approach used is the Victorian Performance Management Framework, which consists of four tiers – the function of the learning community, learning delivery, lifelong learning, and community capacity. Evaluation experiences have shown: (1) the need for comprehensive but workable frameworks; (2) the involvement of community members in developing frameworks; (3) the need for different levels of impacts to be included in evaluation; (4) evaluation needs to be iterative and part of continuous improvement; and (5) the limitations of evaluation need to be understood and mitigated.

Grazing management studies with Australian cashmere goats. 4. Cobalt supplementation and intestinal parasite burdens in sheep and goats in south-eastern Queensland

A flock of 32 weaner wether sheep (Border Leicester x Merino) and 32 weaner male goats (Australian cashmere) were grazed (37 animals/ha) on a common pasture of N-fertilised pangola grass from early March until June. One half of each group (16 animals) was supplemented with cobalt, and one half of each of these groups (8 animals) was dosed with approximately 500 infective helminth larvae at 2-week intervals throughout the trial. The final treatment was a drenching regime for one half (4 animals) of each of the above groups, levamisole (Nilverm) at 0, 2, 4 and 7 weeks and rafoxanide (Ranide) at 2-week intervals thereafter. There was no significant effect (P>0.05) of either cobalt supplementation or dosing with larvae on liveweight change, parasite egg concentrations in faeces or daily parasite egg excretion. Sheep gained significantly (P<0.05) more weight (50 g/day) than goats (31 g/day) in the first 7 weeks, and sheep also responded significantly (P<0.05) to drenching in this period whilst goats did not. In the second 8 week period, goats and sheep lost weight at a similar rate (-11 g/day), and both sheep and goats responded significantly (P<0.05) to drenching. The drenching program significantly (P<0.05) decreased faecal egg counts in sheep but not in goats. Undrenched sheep generally had higher concentrations of eggs in faeces than did undrenched goats, and with the exception of 1 sampling period, sheep also excreted significantly (P<0.05) more faecal eggs daily than goats. Undrenched sheep had significantly (P<0.05) lower haemoglobin concentrations in blood (82 gL) than drenched sheep (97 g/L). Undrenched goats also had lower blood haemoglobin concentrations (88 g/L) than did drenched goats (92 g/L). Cobalt supplementation did not exacerbate intestinal parasite burdens in either sheep or goats, and whilst goats did not appear to be more susceptible to intestinal parasites than sheep, the drenching strategies used for sheep were not effective in these goats.

THE USE OF COMMUNITY SERVICES BY RURAL FAMILIES IN WISCONSIN

The development of rural policy and community services for rural families depends on greater understanding of how families cope with economic change. Survey responses from 1,611 nonmetropolitan Wisconsin households were used to quantify the relative impact of different family characteristics on the use of community services by families (such as health care services, childcare, and public assistance). Household structure and economic factors influenced the use of childcare and the use of public health services. The use of supplemental income and housing assistance was largely determined by economic status. A households use of community assistance with costs was associated with a mix of factors suggesting both low and reasonable economic status. Other issues such as education, working at home, and insurance status were also important in determining use of community services, pointing to more subtle determinants of family decision making. The results reinforce the need to treat community development, social development, and economic development in an integrated policy framework.

Growth and Carcass Characteristics of 3-Way Africander X Simmental X Hereford Crossbreds in South-Western Queensland

Liveweight and carcass traits of 3-way Africander (A) x Simmental (S) x Hereford (H) crossbreds and purebred Herefords were monitored predominately on native pastures at Dirranbandi, Queensland, for 2 calf crops over 6 years. The relative breed compositions of the crossbreds were A4S2H2, A4S1H3 and A4H4.The mean liveweight of the A4S2H2 cattle ranked highest from about 250 days post-weaning to slaughter (520 days post-weaning) for steers, and at first joining for heifers (560 days post-weaning). Differences in liveweight were not significant at all times. The A4S2H2 and A4S1H3 steers had the highest (P<0.05) post-weaning average daily gains. Differences in weaning weight between crossbreds were carried through to slaughter for steers and to joining for heifers.The A4S2H2 steers had the highest (P<0.05) mean final liveweight (433 kg) and mean carcass weight (232 kg). There was no difference in carcass weight between the other crossbreds and Herefords. Fat depth at the P8 rump site of A4H4 crossbreds (8.5 mm) was higher (P<0.05) than that of Herefords (5.5 mm) and other crossbreds. Dressing percentages were similar for all breed types.The A4S2H2 maiden heifers had higher (P<0.05) liveweights at first joining (369 kg) than the A4S1H3 (353 kg) and A4H4 (337 kg) heifers.These data show that beef producers in south-western Queensland can increase carcass weights with A4S2H2 crossbreds and produce carcasses that primarily meet the Korean-EC market and the requirements of domestic supermarket outlets.