Home

Welcome to The Centre for Natural Resource Management (CNRM)

The CNRM was established by the South Australian and the Australian Government to administer $11 million of research funding through the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality.

The Centre facilitated the prioritisation of Natural Resource Management (NRM) research at the strategic, state and regional levels. It also served as a linker, facilitator and broker of knowledge, and sought to ensure productive partnerships between regional communities, research institutions, government agencies and private industry.

The National Action Plan for Salinty and Water Quality ceased on 30 June 2008. It has been replaced by Caring for our Country, the Government's new NRM initiative. Consequently the obligations of the CNRM in its current form also ceased to exist. The NRM Research Alliance Board has replaced the Centre for Natural Resource Management Board, which met for the last time in June 2006.

CNRM Final Report (337KB PDF File)

The Natural Resource Management Research Alliance

Natural resource management is the management of soil, water, indigenous flora and fauna and includes pest plant and animal control. It encompasses terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems.

The purpose of the NRM Research Alliance is to:

• Foster and strengthen linkages between the users and providers of NRM science, technology and innovation;
• Foster and strengthen collaboration between providers of NRM science, technology and innovation to increase capacity and capability;
• Provide strategic advice on the adoption of NRM science, technology and innovation; and
• Attract and direct investment into NRM science, technology and innovation that will support improved NRM outcomes

The Alliance members comprise South Australia's regional NRM boards, the NRM Council, South Australia's state NRM agencies (Environment and Heritage, Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation, and Primary Industries and Resources SA), the CSIRO and South Australia's three academic institutions; The University of Adelaide, Flinders University and the University of South Australia. Dr Keith Steele is the Board's independent chair.

The NRM Research Alliance has a focus on research that considers the natural resource components in an integrated way, at a landscape scale. It currently has three areas of focus for research collaboration and capacity building:

• The Human Dimensions of NRM - identifying and applying socio-economic drivers of sustainable NRM,
• Habitat Restoration and Sustainable Production - particularly resource use that creates complementary outcomes for biological conservation and sustainable production
• Integrated landscape modelling

Through the involvement of Alliance members, leading researchers are brought together with key policy makers and managers of natural resources in the state. It also brings together perspectives from urban and regional settings. The NRM Research Alliance will facilitate provision of vital evidence based knowledge that will provide real options for decision making within the strategic governance frameworks already established for NRM in South Australia.

SA is unique in having a system of legislation, policy, and financing for natural resources management, which not only formally cascade from national, state and regional to local spheres of governance, but also interlock with the state strategic plan and the land use planning system. South Australia's Strategic Plan establishes targets for attaining sustainability. This frame of reference is supported by legislation that requires the State NRM Plan and State Planning Strategy align, as are regional NRM Plans and regional/local development plans, with a view to jointly delivering sustainable outcomes on the ground.

For further information on the NRM Research Alliance please refer to the website

[ Get .pdf map of Waite Campus]