Federal NRM Outcomes and Priorities

Although NARvis priorities have been developed at the regional level, many of the environmental challenges identified by stakeholders in the Northern Agricultural Region are also recognised as priorities at the national level.

Australia’s Strategy for Nature 2024–2030 is Australia’s national biodiversity strategy and action plan. It provides a national framework for halting and reversing biodiversity loss, including protecting and restoring nature, reducing threats to biodiversity and strengthening participation in caring for nature. Priorities identified through NARvis, including biodiversity conservation, habitat restoration, invasive species management and community stewardship, can contribute to these broader national outcomes.

The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) provides the principal Australian Government legislative framework for protecting nationally significant environmental values, including threatened species and ecological communities, migratory species and other Matters of National Environmental Significance. While the EPBC Act does not determine NARvis priorities, it is relevant to the management and conservation of nationally significant environmental values occurring within the NAR.

Australian Government environmental policy and legislation continue to evolve. NARvis provides a regional record of NRM priorities, values and actions that can help inform conservation and natural resource management activities as national priorities and programs change.

The Threatened Species Action Plan 2022–2032 sets out the Australian Government’s approach to recovering threatened species and ecological communities. Its objectives include preventing new extinctions, improving the trajectory of priority species, improving the condition of priority places and reducing the impacts of key threats.

Many of these priorities overlap with biodiversity concerns identified within the Northern Agricultural Region. Conservation and restoration of habitat, management of invasive species and other threats, monitoring and community stewardship within the NAR can therefore contribute to the recovery of nationally threatened species and ecological communities.

The Threatened Species Action Plan 2022–2032 identifies 20 Priority Places for targeted conservation action during 2022–2027. These places support a landscape-scale approach to threatened species recovery, recognising that protecting and restoring habitat can benefit multiple species and ecological communities.

The Remnant WA Wheatbelt Woodlands is one of these Priority Places and is relevant to parts of the Northern Agricultural Region. Its boundaries are not fixed, allowing conservation actions to be targeted where they can provide the greatest benefit. Regional habitat protection, restoration and threat management can therefore contribute to conservation outcomes associated with this national priority.

Sustainable agriculture is an important component of current Australian Government investment in natural resource management. The Climate-Smart Agriculture Program, funded through the Natural Heritage Trust, supports farmers and land managers to adopt sustainable practices, build resilience to climate change and improve the management of natural resources, natural capital and biodiversity.

These national objectives overlap with priorities identified through NARvis, particularly within the Sustainable Agriculture, Climate Change, Biodiversity Conservation and Water themes. Regional activities that improve soil and water management, protect biodiversity and strengthen the resilience of agricultural landscapes can therefore contribute to both regional and national NRM outcomes.