Integrated Resource Management: Moving from Rhetoric to Practice in Australian Agriculture

/ Implementing the concept of sustainability through integrated approaches to natural resource management poses enormous challenges for both the rural communities and government agencies concerned. This paper reviews the underlying rhetoric of sustainable agricultural systems and the integrated resource management paradigm and identifies some of the challenges being experienced in translating this rhetoric into practice. A relatively recently implemented community-based integrated catchment management (ICM) process in a rural community in northeast Australia is examined in terms of some of the lessons learned that may be relevant to other similar integrated resource management (IRM) processes. It reveals a pragmatic, opportunistic, and evolving implementation process based on adaptive learning rather than a more traditional "rational" planning approach. Some essential characteristics of a community-based IRM process are identified, including fostering communication; providing a structure that fosters cooperation and facilities coordination among community, industry, and government agencies; the integration of IRM principles into local government planning schemes; and an emergent strategic approach to IRM program implementation. We conclude by identifying some essential characteristics of an IRM process that can assist a community to adapt to, and manage change for, sustainable resource use.     

ANALYSIS OF NEW TECHNIQUES FOR PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT IN WATER PLANNING1

ABSTRACT: The growing demands by the public for a more active role in planning have recently generated considerable interest among researchers and planners in the subject of public involvement techniques. Numerous surveys have found that standard public participation techniques (e.g., public hearings) by themselves are considered inadequate. Several techniques that have potential for overcoming some of the limitations of standard public involvement techniques have recently been developed. This paper describes several of these new techniques and analyzes each of them in terms of their potential utility in water resources planning.     

LEAST COST SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEM OF EFFLUENT ABATEMENT IN URBAN SYSTEMS1

ABSTRACT: There is a significant misallocation of resources in the construction and operation of municipal sewage treatment systems in North America. Central to this misallocation is the inadequate evaluation of alternative treatment technologies, alternative distributions of responsibility for waste treatment, and alternative mechanisms for inducing compliance with treatment system requirements. Perverse incentives in the current institutional structure limit the scope of alternatives examined by decisionmakers. Determination of the least cost solution to the problem of urban effluent abatement requires mathematical modeling for the delineation of optimal treatment strategies on a system wide basis. The adoption of modern methods of systems analysis can identify significant opportunities for the reduction of economic waste in the treatment of municipal sewage.     

Weed manipulation for insect pest management in corn

Populations of insect pests and associated predaceous arthropods were sampled by direct observation and other relative methods in simple and diversified corn habitats at two sites in north Florida during 1978 and 1979. Through various cultural manipulations, characteristic weed communities were established selectively in alternate rows within corn plots.Fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda J. E. Smith) incidence was consistently higher in the weed-free habitats than in the corn habitats containing natural weed complexes or selected weed associations. Corn earworm (Heliothis zea Boddie) damage was similar in all weed-free and weedy treatments, suggesting that this insect is not affected greatly by weed diversity. Only the diversification of corn with a strip of soybean significantly reduced corn earworm damage.In one site, distance between plots was reduced. Because predators moved freely between habitats, it was difficult to identify between-treatment differences in the composition of predator communities. In the other site, increased distances between plots minimized such migrations, resulting in greater population densities and diversity of common foliage insect predators in the weed-manipulated corn systems than in the weed-free plots. Trophic relationships in the weedy habitats were more complex than food webs in monocultures.Predator diversity (measured as mean number of species per area) and predator density was higher in com plots surrounded by mature, complex vegetation than at those surrounded by annual crops. This suggests that diverse adjacent areas to crops provide refuge for predators, thus acting as colonization sources.     

MANY RESOURCES,MANY USES: A SYSTEM ANALYSIS APPROACH TO RENEWABLE RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT1

ABSTRACT: Decisionmaking associated with the Nation's 1.7 billion acres of forest and range land has become increasingly complicated because of the rise in competition for resource use and in the awareness of environmental and social effects. This system analysis approach uses four models to synthesize pertinent masses of information into measures of economic, environmental, and social impacts. The system results can be used to help evaluate alternative national programs. The models are:

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MANAGEMENT ASPECTS OF CYCLIC STORAGE OF WATER IN AQUIFER SYSTEMS1

ABSTRACT: Most of California's precipitation falls at the wrong place in the wrong season in relation to the water needs. Redistribution and regulation are essential. Aquifer systems – groundwater basins – can provide a share of the future cyclic storage regulation. There are some differences in management concepts in using a full basin in comparison with a partially dewatered basin. Legal, water quality, and physical impacts on aquifer systems, including subsidence, are concerns. Storage may be for the benefit of overlying water users or for distant areas. Extraction during dry periods or recharge methods will require careful planning. Existing rights and uses and equitable treatment of all parties must be assured. Financial compensation may be involved. Changes in methods of operation or degree of self-determination by affected water agencies will require committed watermanship to resolve. Legislation or amendments to organic acts may be needed but much can be accomplished within existing statutes. Environmental impacts which can be avoided by not using large surface storage sites are important. Energy for pumping will be a key consideration. About 40 percent of California is underlain by aquifer systems. This resource offers major potential in overcoming the maldistribution of natural water resources.     

ANALYZING THE IMPACT OF LAND USE ON SEWER SERVICE AREA PLANNING1

ABSTRACT: The density and distribution of land uses has important consequences for the planning of sewerage systems and for the costs of these systems. This paper examines these consequences using a simplified service area model. The model determines the area to be served by a central waste treatment plant, where alternative on-lot disposal systems are also available. The model is applied to various urban area configurations, which are summarized by their total populations and by their population density distributions. Both minimum regional cost and minimum local cost service area configurations are determined. In addition, the sensitivity of the model to the parameters of the cost and population density functions is assessed. It is found that the model is most sensitive to the parameters of the collection cost function.     

A NONLINEAR MULTILEVEL MODEL FOR REGIONAL WATER RESOURCES PLANNING1

ABSTRACT: A nonlinear multilevel transportation model is developed to study large-scale allocations in a water resources system. The model uses a modified transportation matrix formulated with nonlinear cost functions as the basic subregional model and the goal coordination method for multilevel decomposition and optimization of the overall regional system. The model is applied to projected water requirements for Salt Lake County in 1985. Sources of water supply - surface water, ground water, import water, and reuse of reclaimed wastewater on a restricted basis - are available to satisfy water requirements for municipal, industrial, and agricultural sectors in four subregions. The conjugate gradient projection method is used to optimize the first level subregional models having cost functions of the form of C = aX^b, and the second level problem is solved using the conjugate gradient method.