Invisible Hands, Quick Fingers
Emerging Tools to Respond to and Influence Community Values in Natural Resource Management
Research Open Day on Social & Economic Instruments
Wednesday 13th June 2007 , 9.15 – 5:15 Enterprise House,
136 Greenhill Road , Unley
Presentations
Sally Pederick (Principal Project Officer, SA MDB NRM Board)
Podcast
Presentation: N/A
Abstract: Research Open Day on Social & Economic Instruments Principal Project Officer, SA MDB NRM Board
Merv Lewis (NY NRM Board)
Podcast
Presentation: Land holders Policy developers Planners, Who is who in the NRM business?
Tim Dendy (DWLBC)
Presentation: Does effective policy change require a change in culture?
Abstract: Does effective policy change require a change in culture
Mike Young (University of Adelaide)
Podcast
Presentation: Trading Natural Resources to the Highest Value Use
Patrick O’Connor (O'Connor NRM)
Podcast
Presentation: Native Vegetation Auction in Eastern Mt Lofty Ranges
Darren Willis (DWLBC)
Podcast
Presentation: Biodiversity Credit Scheme in the South East
John Leake (Land Repair)
Presentation: Profit from environmental restoration
Abstract: Land Repair Fund: exploiting the nexus between land repair, improved production and profit.
Brett Bryan (CSIRO Land and Water)
Presentation: Auctions for Enhancing Biodiversity and Water Quality
Chris Raymond (DWLBC)
Presentation: Landscape Value Mapping
Andrew Lothian (Scenic Solutions)
Presentation: Amenity Mapping
John Ward (CSIRO)
Podcast
Presentation: Wind tunnel testing of new instruments
Mike Seyfang (mikeseyfang.com)
Podcast
Presentation: Online learning communities
Abstract: Online learning communities
Abstracts
Top
Sally Pederick
Abstract: Open Day on Social & Economic Instruments
· Local Action Planning established in SA MDB region in 1995 – 11 LAP groups established in 1990’s across the region including one Urban Users group. LAP provided an integrated process that provides support for community led actions designed to achieve economic, social and environmental benefits.
· Originally majority of funding for LAP through NHT and groups applied individually for funds on an annual basis – the development of a local action plan was often the first funded activity leading to applications for funding to undertake actions/on-ground works identified in these plans.
· Benefit-Cost Analysis undertaken to provide basis for incentive payments for on-ground works. The regional BCA system evolved from the early ‘Cost Sharing for On-ground Work’ framework developed by MDBC (1996).
· CD LAP one of the first to undertake BCA and offer incentive payments. Much of these incentives were in response to reducing recharge in the Upper South East in an effort to minimise dryland salinity. Other LAPs followed suit with respect to incentives for high priority issues in their particular regions.
FACT: CD LAP has successfully engaged over 400 landholders (75% of the district) in their on-ground works program and estimate that an additional 50% of on-ground works occurs outside of the LAP incentive scheme.
· Nowadays LAPs receive funding via the SA MDB NRM Board’s community grants program plus other state/national/corporate funding programs. SA MDB NRM funds are made available from two sources – primarily NAP and levy. Incentives are still offered via LAPs to landholders/land managers for on-ground works.
· General process for distribution of incentives is via distribution of information by LAP, Expression of Interest by landholder, full grant development, offer of incentive and then agreement sign-off.
· Positives of incentives – originally got interest from a wide range of landholders; gave landholders a financial incentive to try something a little different; changed some unsustainable behaviours or encouraged more sustainable behaviours; encouraged long-term nrm planning and nrm responsibility;
· Negatives of incentives – funds were untargeted geographically; over time system was abused by some landholders; culture of being paid for good management has occurred; monitoring/follow-up difficult to manage with so many sites and limited resources; some people outside of standard communications loops may miss out on incentive information;
· Bushbids for Mt Lofty Biodiversity Hotspots project is being used – competitive auction-based approach aimed at maintaining and enhancing biodiversity values in the region by establishing long-term protection and adaptive conservation management through property based conservation agreements with private landholders.
What now...
· National push for implementation of market-based approaches to encourage sustainable land management and biodiversity protection/enhancement.
· Funding allocation across the region needs to be very targeted as funding reduces and specific targets need to be met.
· Incentives are entrenched in SA MDB NRM culture – hard to shift to something new. There is a need for a ‘stepping stone’ to take SA MDB from incentives to full MBI – cannot make this shift in one step.
· Personally would like to see cultural shift from landholders being paid to undertake on-ground works that will personally benefit their land and enterprise.
‘Changing imbedded attitudes and building the skills of NRM Boards and landholders to effectively and efficiently shift from grant based on ground works incentive programs to a tender based MBI approach is critical if targeted NRM outcomes are to be achieved’
Other items of interest...
In Dooley et al (2005) report titled “Recommended Mechanisms for Regional Prioritisation and Regional Delivery” it states that a series of policy responses are required to ensure uptake of works necessary in the SA MDB – these included the maintenance of incentives for on-ground works with the flexibility of adjust and zone incentives in response to both local and regional priority settings, in a manner consistent across the whole region (eg. a set of principles such as high incentive rates apply where multiple NRM outcomes occur, or where highest value assets are protected).
In Bryan et al (2005) report titled “Systematic Regional Planning for Multiple Objective Natural Resource Management” it is stated that a tendering approach has been found to achieve greater efficiency in NRM actions that standard developed grant schemes because of the substantial costs borne by the landholders.
· Has been suggested that a combined approach is necessary to achieve multiple NRM outcomes (focusing primarily on vegetation management, biodiversity, wind erosion and carbon sequestration) – this approach includes invited tender for NRM contracts (auction system for landholders and community groups which propose action in high priority areas), NRM credits (could be integrated with the tendering system – credits could be set-up as a straight payment to landholders for actions that achieve NRM benefits initially, with a cap and trade system implemented at a later date), Biomass industry development (is likely to be profitable as a private enterprise and can result in considerable NRM benefits at minimal government expense – although an industry development policy is imperative).
Tim Dendy
Presentation: Does effective policy change require a change in culture?
Abstract: Does effective policy change require a change in culture
Does effective policy require a change in culture? Based on observations from the development of the South Australian native vegetation management program, Tim Dendy concludes in the affirmative, but notes that that further cultural change is needed if we are to achieve the target set by the South Australian Strategic Plan of "lose no species!"
Top
John Leake
Presentation: Profit from environmental restoration
Abstract: Land Repair Fund: exploiting the nexus between land repair, improved production and profit.
Leake J & Morison J (In press)
Background
The purpose here is to discuss the objectives of Land Repair Australia (LRA) and to draw some lessons from its initial investments as input to the evolution of NRM board(s) and LRA practice in the interests of better land repair outcomes. LRA was formed in 2005 following research sponsored by the Centre for Natural Resource Management to facilitate private investment into the rehabilitation of ’s land stock. The research concluded that investment in land repair can be financially attractive if done on a sufficient scale, if leading land management practices are applied and that it can significantly reduce transaction costs in the provision of incentives for on ground works and other landscape rehabilitation activity. LRA aims to acquire degraded land where investment and changed land use can yield capital and income growth by developing more valued private and public uses for the land.
Three years on, what has been the experience? LRA has undertaken two out of three case studies that formed part of the original research.
The first was a proposed investment in the Murray River Valley to change the vegetation mix in a series of strategic locations to achieve various desired outcomes; reduced salinity inflows to the Murray through infiltration from irrigation, increased carbon sequestration, increased land value from the conversion of some degraded land to amenity purposes and the intensification of irrigation in some other areas. The investment did not proceed as it proved too difficult to obtain clear guidance on the possible salinity credits, and some land use changes required rezoning that would be difficult to obtain and the projected returns did not justify the timing risks.
The second was a scheme to restore some degraded bush land surrounding a large irrigated dairy venture between Lakes Albert and Alexandrina funded by a taxation benefit obtained by foregoing the benefit from developing the land for dairying. This activity began well but as the dairy venture itself became unprofitable due to water costs in the drought it has not been completed however, had the alternative of development for dairying proceeded, it may have become more degraded once the irrigation water application ceased.
The third was a venture to rehabilitate a dairy flat and a degraded area of river bank into a combination of; a constructed wetland managed to mimic the original wetting and drying cycle that existed before dairying, and an adjacent real estate development to provide the resources and fill for a cost effective construction of the wet land and an attractive environment for the new residents to live in. This venture was given strong expressions of support by both the relevant Minister in the State Government and by council but success required a rezoning of the land and in practice this support has not been translated into a speedy rezoning process.
Some questions:
- Is there a role for NRM boards to help reduce these transaction costs with State Government and Councils and so facilitate new desired investment?
- Do they have, or should they try to obtain, some formal authority or responsibility to influence rezoning activities where there are desirable NRM outcomes?
Land Repair Study; Institute for International Development, Scholefield Robinson, EconSearch , Anne Jensen et-al 2004.
Mike Seyfang
Presentation: Online learning communities
Abstract: Online learning communities
Online Learning Communities
As an independent consultant and active participant in the social web, I have been asked to speak very briefly to you about Online Learning Communities. In order to do so, I will paint a very broad-brush picture of the internet developments which have created the perfect storm in which the social web revolution is occurring and out of which the online learning communities that I am a part of are formed. After giving some examples of Online Learning Communities I will move through the more significant development of knowledge networks (which will soon begin to have impact on academic institutions, the way we solve big problems and the very nature of knowledge itself) to the fascinating and potentially powerful field of social web powered activist communities. If I understand the natural resource management community at all there will likely be participants here today who could gain much from skilful participation in a little social web powered activism.
ClueTrain Manifesto www.cluetrain.com
95 Theses beginning with - Markets are conversations. Other highlights include: ‘The Internet is enabling conversations among human beings that were simply not possible in the era of mass media.’ and ‘We have real power and we know it. If you don't quite see the light, some other outfit will come along that's more attentive, more interesting, more fun to play with.
LongTail Economics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long_Tail
Chris Anderson, Clay Shirky et al noted that a relative handful of weblogs have many links going into them but "the long tail" of millions of weblogs may have only a handful of links going into them. Typically charted as a demand curve charting popularity to inventory (or number of sales versus number of products). An Amazon employee described the Long Tail as follows: "We sold more books today that didn't sell at all yesterday than we sold today of all the books that did sell yesterday."
Perfect Storm www.readwriteweb.com
There is a bit of a revolution happening in the geek community – a kind of ‘revenge of the nerds’ uprising through the use of blogs, wikis, podcasts etc that the mainstream media refer rather disparagingly to as ‘citizen journalism’ or ‘user generated content’ under the loosely defined banner of Web2.0. Careful observers will note the subtle shift in the nature of the internet that underpins all this is away from a ‘read only’ experience toward a ‘read write’ experience hence the term ‘Read/Write Web’. Participants in this uprising have moved on from a Google centric experience, where they use a search engine find and ‘read’ information that ‘publishers’ put on the internet to a socially networked experience where they frequently ‘write’ small amounts of information in the
form of blog posts, profile updates, photo uploads, audio and video mashups through social network sites such as myspace, wordpress, flickr, youtube, twitter, facebook and so on. More importantly, participants self organise into communities (or more precisely, networks) through seemingly ad-hoc but socially driven RSS connections, which provide the framework through which this information is ‘read’ or consumed. This shift toward a read/write internet and the rapid adoption of many of these social networking sites have created a kind of perfect storm in which many kinds of opportunities for social change exist.
Learning communities, networked knowledge & activism
I will touch on three learning communities (or networks) in which I am personally involved. The EdTech talk community (http://edtechtalk.com/) is my favourite example of a truly global, open network of people interested in education. Regular discussions are held over skype with a live audio stream and text based chat. Any interested party with something to offer can join in and all discussions are recorded and distributed as podcasts. Net2blazers is a local south Australian community of socially networked individuals, exploring together the possibilities of emerging technology in education. TALO (Teaching and Learning Online) is a global community that frequently pushes the boundaries of what is possible, using every conceivable emergent technology at events described as ‘un conferences’. Networked Knowledge – as championed by Stephen Downes, George Siemens et al, a new theory (and practice) of networked knowledge. The EdTech Talk community (or network) described above is an example of the practice of networked knowledge. While theorists argue points of difference between ‘connectivism’ and ‘connectionism’, it is clear that participation in the social web allows the formation of highly distributed knowledge networks that exhibit many of the characteristics of neural networks. More pragmatic and highly motivated participants in the social web have discovered an extremely potent tool with which to prosecute their cause. A poster child for this type of organised social web activisim at the moment is NetSquared (project of TechSoup part of CompuMentor). Other organizations such as TED.com are using Social Web tools and techniques such as blogs and podcasts, attracting attention from some very high profile activists (e.g. Bill Clinton). There exists great potential for influence and social change in the field of Natural Resource Management through skilful use of the read/write web – a little ‘social web powered activism’ if you will.
How to Organise Your Own Living Laboratory Open Day
This event was hosted by ICE-WaRM and DWLBC as part of the Living laboratory project. Any organisation interested in helping to organise a “Living Laboratories” Open Day is encouraged to contact Paul Dalby at ICEWaRM pdalby@icewarm.com.au
Podcasts
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