Climate and Natural Resources

This study explores the factors affecting rural landholders’ adaptation to climate change from the perspectives of formal institutions and communities of practice. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with formal institutions (e.g. South Australian government agencies) and communities of practice (e.g. farm systems groups) within two natur ....

The NSW Government is fulfilling a new agenda to deliver integrated strategic planning for land use, transport and infrastructure investment, backed up by rigorous financial management and is committed to partnering with communities, including aboriginal communities to improve social and economic outcomes. The long term strategies will align to N ....

This paper demonstrates three alternative approaches for mining consumer sentiment from large amounts of qualitative data found in online travel reviews. Manual content coding, corpus-based semantic analysis, and stance-shift analysis represent methods varying greatly in both process and output. For illustration purposes, they are applied in an e ....

A review of fire management in the rangelands aimed to assist government officers to assess the adequacy and effectiveness of proposed rangeland fire management programs and projects for the second round of Natural Heritage Trust funding (NHT2), improve the region's ability to plan for and implement fire management strategies drawi ....

The Resource Sector Opportunity Study 2011 established that WBB, with disproportionate unemployment, socio-economic disadvantage and population ageing, has to date not shared equally in Queensland’s recent mining prosperity. Harnessing the resource sector’s skilled and well-paid human capital by accommodating fly-in fly-out (FIFO) and drive-i ....

“Fly-in/fly-out” is a form of work organization that has become the standard model for new mining, petroleum and other types of resource development in remote areas. In many places this “no town” model has replaced that of the “new town.” The work system has both beneficial and adverse implications for the sustainability of both exist ....

This study examined whether a wellbeing approach to resilience and adaptation would provide practical insights for prioritizing support to communities experiencing environmental and socio-economic stressors. Methods: A cross-sectional survey, based on a purposive sample of 2,196 stakeholders (landholders, hobby farmers, town resident and change a ....

Analytical support for developing policies to enhance the resilience of Australian farm households to drought has been heavily dominated by rainfall analysis, whereas the impact of climate variability that matters to farmers and the community generally is the impact on farm incomes. With farm income as the key decision variable, an ....

Tasmania’s forests are an important economic and environmental resource for all Tasmanians, providing vital employment, recreation and conservation values. The importance of the Tasmanian private forest resource to the forest industry is increasing, with 44% of harvested timber sourced from private forests in 2011-2012. The proportion of ....

With still-low development levels and relatively high risks from climatic impacts, the less developed world faces a greater challenge for future development than developed economies. Applying the science of complexity to study human-environment systems (CHES) and integrating ideas from climate change research into a larger framework of ....

This paper reflects on the methods, outcomes and learnings from an institutionallydriven analysis that aims to determine whether and where to further invest in saltland pastures from an economic and environmental perspective. The analysis showed that following a five year proactive and targeted extension strategy operating on the s ....

Adaptation is now recognized as an important aspect of responses to climate change. Rural communities in the prairie provinces of Canada are considered to be sensitive to the impacts of climate change due to socio-economic and geographical factors. This study examines the ways in which governance institutions shape the ability of two ru ....

Key points • Many Australian farmers and rural communities have been experiencing hardship from the latest severe and prolonged drought. While this is not new to dryland farming, 'irrigation drought' is uncharted territory. • Australia has always had a variable climate, with drought being a recurring feature. Looking to the f ....

Climate change is expected to increase the frequency, severity and length of drought periods in Australia. Government assistance for drought events is guided by the current National Drought Policy and is intended as a short term measure to help farmers prepare for, manage and recover from drought. Support is provided to farmers and ....