Imagining the Best Natural Resources and Catchment Authority in the world by RIEL

Andrew Campbell Triple Helix Consulting www.triplehelix.com.au

Key Points • We need to revitalise regional/coastal NRM in Australia – The drivers & opportunities are immense, the imperative is urgent

• Natural Resources, Coastal and Catchment Authorities – A wonderful opportunity to build something special – What could success look like? – Characteristics of a highperforming organisation Clarity of purpose and strategy Governance Knowledge and understanding Positioning and Relationships

• Regional professionals (you!) have a great role to play 2

Drivers for integrated regional and coastal NRM • Climate • Water • Energy • Food • Demographic change and development pressures • Competition for land & water resources • Resource degradation

Profound technical challenges 1. To decouple economic growth from carbon emissions 2. To adapt to an increasingly difficult climate 3. To increase water productivity — decoupling the 1 litre per calorie relationship

1. To increase energy productivity – –

more food energy out per unit of energy in while shifting from fossil fuels to renewable energy

1. To develop more sustainable food systems – –

while conserving biodiversity and improving landscape amenity, soil health, animal welfare & human health

1. To do all of the above simultaneously! — improving sustainability and resilience

The imperative •

Rapid, often surprising, ongoing environmental change will challenge governments and industries, and stress communities

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Many responses (proactive and reactive) will need to be designed and/or interpreted at regional and local levels. Successful implementation depends on community support.

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We need environmentally literate and capable bodies at this scale, with strong community support and involving community leaders, that bridge government and community, public and private

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Policy convergence in climate, energy, water and food systems mandates integrated planning & delivery

We need a third agricultural revolution • Closed loop farming systems, not leaking:

(water, energy, nutrients, carbon, biodiversity)

• Smart metering, sensing, telemetry, robotics, guidance • Better understanding of soil carbon & microbial activity • Radically reducing waste in all parts of the food chain • Farming systems producing renewable bioenergy (2nd generation)

• Attracting young talent back into agriculture and rural communities 6

Land Use Planning & Design • Victoria is already “postagricultural” in several regions • We have some elements of a new paradigm – Ecoservices etc – Carbon offsets market (Greenfleet et al)

– New corporate players — e.g. VicSuper, MIS schemes, energy companies

• And we know areas that need to expand – – – – 7

Water conservation Habitat restoration and reconnection Residential Renewable energy (wind, solar, biomass, biogas)

Putting landscapes back together • How can this all ‘fit’ at a landscape and regional scale? • The landscape needs to be replumbed, rewired and reclothed • We need new regional planning approaches that: – are robust under a range of climate change & demographic scenarios – build in resilience thinking – accommodate carbon pollution mitigation options (energy, transport, food) – safeguard productive soil and allow for increased food production – facilitate reuse and recycling of water, nutrients and energy

• Integrating and/or replacing regional catchment strategies and local government planning, zoning, rating and DA processes

• The White Paper moves in this direction • Such integration is more likely to be driven by NRCAs than other players 8

And seascapes? • Climate change is already affecting Australian marine life* – changes in temperature, ocean currents and chemistry (predominantly acidification), winds, nutrient supply, river run off, sea levels, rainfall and extreme weather – the invasion off the east coast of Tasmania of sea urchins native to NSW has caused barrens (loss of kelp and reduced diversity); – Increasing % of tropical species in phytoplankton blooms in SE Aust waters; – the rock lobster catch and distribution is correlated with changing sea surface temperatures (SST) around the Tasman sea; – 34 fish species have exhibited major distributional changes in the last decade

• Many Australian fish species spend some of their life cycle in estuaries • ‘Catchment to coast’ or ‘source to sea’ integration will become increasingly critical for marine ecosystems 9

* Source: Hobday et al 2006)

Imagining the best Natural Resources, Catchment and Coastal Authority in the world

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Vision

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Getting there

Characteristics of highperforming organisations 1. Clarity of purpose and strategy 2. Governance 3. Understanding and knowledge 4. Positioning and relationships 11

Imagining a top NRCCA PURPOSE and STRATEGY • Clarity of purpose – integrated NRM at regional/catchment scale – bridging government and community, public & private – taking the long view, grounded in connection to place

• Clarity of strategy – consistency with governing legislation & mandate – welldefined priorities: thematic, spatial, temporal – logical thread from interventions to goals (means to ends) – a story that locals ‘get’ easily, that resonates 12

Imagining a top NRCCA (2) GOVERNANCE • Successful organisations are well run – they make a difference, that people can see and appreciate – good balance between performance and conformance

• Significant public funding demands good governance – – – –

being well run, and being seen to be well run excellent people, employed appropriately business systems: HR, finance, risk, compliance, audit governance • • • •

Clarity and respect for distinct roles of Board/CEO/management Respect boundaries between board and management Clear reporting and audit frameworks Codes of conduct

Imagining a top NRCCA (3) UNDERSTANDING and KNOWLEDGE • Knowing the catchment, and knowing its people – – – –

demography and demographic trends who lives in the catchment, what are their drivers? values, perceptions, hopes, fears, knowhow regional economy, economic trends & opportunities

• Tapped into best available knowledge relevant to strategy – sustainable land use options, best practice, factors affecting adoption – a useful toolkit of incentives, planning, regulation – comprehensive local knowledge base, and knowledge systems – technical credibility & capability to deliver – partnerships with knowledge providers – close links with local champions 14

Some thoughts on Knowledge • Knowing the catchment, and knowing its people – – – –

demography and demographic trends who lives in the catchment, what are their drivers? values, perceptions, hopes, fears, knowhow regional economy, economic trends & opportunities

Imagining a top NRCCA (4a) RELATIONSHIPS • Understood and valued by key client groups – – – – –

grassroots community volunteers landholders and consumers of resources (e.g. tourists) resourceusing industries all tiers of government other relevant nongovernment organisations (NGOs)

• Seen as adding value by these groups • Able to influence behaviour within these groups consistent with implementing the Catchment/NRM Plan • Drawing funds & resources from diverse sources 16

Knowledge 101 •

Knowledge happens between the ears

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An individual cognitive process and highly contextual: – “I only know what I know when I need to know it”

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Revealed in artifacts (writing, art, formulae, products etc), skills, experience, rules of thumb and natural talent (Dave Snowden)

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Across quite different domains: – Including local, Indigenous, scientific, strategic (organisational)

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And different sectors: – research, policy, management, planning, extension, education, monitoring

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people default to known, trusted, accessible sources: – credibility, dialogue, easy access & honesty all critical – timing is crucial: knowledge is most useful when it is needed

The Cynefin knowledge framework* • Climate change spans all of these domains • If temp increase > 2ºC, then disorder & chaos will reign • The challenge is to handle the necessary range of simultaneous responses – to work in all of these domains at once – to develop a system-wide perspective – & the knowledge systems and learning strategies to underpin that perspective * David Snowden & Mary Boone (2007) “Leader's Framework for Decision Making” Harvard Business Review

An organisational knowledge checklist  How easy is it for staff (especially new starters) to find out what the organisation knows about a given issue? – And the public? – Do NRCA-funded research outputs and consultancies feed into AANRO?

 How easy is it to find out what has been funded, and to access those knowledge assets? How useful is the web site for staff?

 How can WDNRCA tap into (and share) the tacit knowledge of experienced people, before, when & after they leave?

 How many people are trained in the web content management system and can upload & manage web content? – And web 2.0 tools? – E.g. how many wikis are in use in WDNRCA? 19

– Or communities of practice?

Knowledge checklist (continued)  How well does WDNRCA “fund the arrows” (internally & externally) – i.e. provide time and resources for linking & joining functions?

 What is a typical knowledge and adoption (comms if you must) budget for WDNRCA programs or major projects?  What is a typical evaluation budget for WDNRCA programs?  Are there generic templates for evaluation plans & K&A plans?  Is Intellectual Property well-catalogued and proactively managed?  Can the WDNRCA knowledge system handle diverse knowledge assets? – E.g. images, films, oral histories, metadata, unpublished material

 Is reading, knowledge and learning valued? 20

Imagining a top NRCCA (4b) POSITIONING • Closely linked with relationships • CMO roles very well defined and clearly articulated – Including how they relate to those of each tier of Government (especially local govt planning, zoning, rating, approvals etc)

• CMO seen as adding value to the efforts of volunteers – e.g. helping them to access resources with minimal bureaucracy – providing a clear strategic framework for their efforts – valuing their contribution

• Grounded in connections to place – CMO seen as ‘speaking for the catchment’ – and ‘keeper of the long view’ in catchment knowledge 21

Improving the regional model Systems make things possible, people make things happen

• Reflecting on the NRM knowledge system as a whole, cross system learning has been patchy at best

• The regional model (NLP, NHT, NAP, C4C) has no overall HR strategy

• It is great that frontline practitioners are finally getting together across regional boundaries

• Look for opportunities to develop informal communities of practice • Exploit web 2.0 technologies • Value (and reward) skills development 22

NRM professionals • Will continue to be in great demand • Can shape remarkable careers • Mobility and flexibility important, BUT; – Build on a solid base of skills and expertise – Understand yourself, how you relate to others, how others see you – Take time out to sharpen the saw (several times) – Cultivate mentors, patrons, exemplars, networks

• Don’t forget to have a life!

Take home messages • We need to revitalise regional/coastal NRM in Australia – The opportunities are immense, the imperative is urgent

• This agenda needs to be nested cohesively within a bigger picture of climate, water, energy and food systems – pursuing sustainability and resilience

• The regional level is where these drivers collide – And where many opportunities lie

Regional professionals (you…) have a great role to play — GO FOR IT! 24

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