The Usefulness of a Threat and Disturbance Categorization Developed for Queensland Wetlands to Environmental Management,Monitoring, and Evaluation |
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Authors: | A J J Lynch |
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Institution: | (1) Environmental Information Systems Unit, Department of Environment and Resource Management, P.O. Box 15155, Brisbane City East, QLD, 4002, Australia;(2) Present address: Centre for Environmental Management, Regional Futures Research Theme, School of Science and Engineering, University of Ballarat, Mt Helen, VIC, 3353, Australia |
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Abstract: | There is no comprehensive system of describing threats and disturbances currently used in Australia, despite the widespread
impacts of human activities on natural ecosystems. Yet a detailed categorization would facilitate the collation of threatening
process information into information systems; enable standardized collection and availability of data; and enable comparative
analyses of ecosystem condition between stakeholders, agencies, states, and nations, particularly for environmental reporting
and evaluation mechanisms such as State of the Environment. As part of the Queensland Wetlands Programme (QWP), a threat and
disturbance framework was developed, focused on the pressure and impacts components of the DPSIR (driver-pressure-state-impacts-response)
framework. A wetland inventory database was developed also that included a detailed threat and disturbance categorization
using the QWP framework. The categorization encompasses a broad range of anthropogenic and natural processes, and is hierarchical
to accommodate varying levels of detail or knowledge. By incorporating detailed qualitative and quantitative information,
a comprehensive threats and disturbances categorization can contribute to conceptual or spatially explicit knowledge and management
assessments. The application of the framework and categorization to several threatening processes is demonstrated, and its
relationship to current natural resource condition indicators is discussed. Threat evaluation is an essential component of
ecological assessment and environmental management, and a standardized categorization enables consistency in attributing processes,
impacts and their short- to long-term consequences. Such a systematic framework and categorization demonstrates the importance
and usefulness of comprehensive approaches, and this approach can be readily adapted to management, monitoring and evaluation
of other target ecosystems and biota. |
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Keywords: | |
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