USE OF CATCHMENT SPECIFIC SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC INFORMATION IN MANAGING NATURAL RESOURCES

Catchment specific economic and social information assists catchment management authorities in natural resource planning and decision making. It gives a context to the natural resource management (NRM) planning and decision making by providing an understanding of the economic and social characteristics in a region and tracks economic and social changes overtime. It also enables analysis of factors that influence a community’s competence in undertaking NRM activities. Catchment specific economic and social data is available from the Australian Bureau of Statistics but there are gaps in the availability of this data that may hinder NRM planning and decision making. The aim of this paper is two fold: firstly, it provides a snapshot of the economic and social information of selected catchments in NSW and secondly, it emphasises the need for further data availability that can facilitate NRM planning and decision making at a catchment level.