SEC TION 3: The fr amework
C L I M AT E CHANGE I M P L I C AT I O N S A changing climate presents clear risks to the region’s resources such as reduced rainfall, increased likelihood of dry lightning strikes and bushfire risks, increased extreme weather events and potential for flooding, and increased coastal hazards. However, opportunities, such as renewable energy expansion, innovation in agriculture and forestry, and changes in suitable and profitable crops, are also emerging.
T H R E AT S
DRIVERS
COMMUNITY A S P I R AT I O N S The preferences and aspirations of community members and community groups determine many natural resource management priorities. Community perspectives underscore the need to balance economic productivity and social needs with conservation, in an environment with increasingly unpredictable ecosystem responses to changing climate. The will of the community is behind consumer choices, political decisions, and the important element of each region’s volunteer workforce. Aboriginal community groups bring specialised aspirations and unique knowledge and perspectives to natural resource management work.
C L I M AT E C H A N G E I M PAC T S Changes to air and ocean temperatures, rainfall, evaporation, wind speed, storm frequency and sea level are all becoming apparent in Tasmania. With these changes will come impacts on our natural resources and the ecosystem services that humans rely on. Some natural resource management activities directly address these threats, and others work to improve ecosystem and human community resilience and adaptability.
NRM STRATEGY 2030: CRADLE COAST TASMANIA
Although NRM organisations usually work at the regional and local scales, guidance and direction is provided by the policies and legislation managed by the Tasmanian and Australian Governments. Of particular importance are the Commonwealth EPBC Act and Threatened Species Strategy, and Tasmania’s plans for agricultural competitiveness, for land use planning and for renewable energy development.
H A B I TAT LOSS AND F R AG M E N TAT I O N A key threatening process affecting many important biodiversity areas and communities is habitat loss. This could be because of historical conversion for agriculture, clearing for development or industry, or piecemeal and cumulative loss of ecological functions via a range of human impacts.
Figure 5: Drivers and threats impacting Tasmania’s natural resources
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GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND S T R AT E G I E S
