- NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT VISION FOR THE NORTHERN AGRICULTURAL REGION OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA
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The NARvis Community Capacity vision is for the local community to have theknowledge, ability and willingness to contribute effectively to natural resource management.
Community capacity for natural resource management (NRM) is well established across the Northern Agricultural Region (NAR). Community organisations, Traditional Owners and Custodians, Aboriginal organisations and ranger groups, Landcare and catchment groups, grower groups, local governments, schools, universities and training organisations, government agencies, NGOs, industry, landholders and volunteers all contribute to building knowledge, participation and environmental stewardship.
Available evidence shows substantial activity across the region, including community events, citizen science, environmental education, volunteer participation, sustainable-agriculture extension, biodiversity and coastal monitoring, restoration activities and increasingly sustainable community infrastructure.
Assessing progress against the numerical NARvis goals is more difficult. There is no single whole-of-region database recording community NRM events, citizen-science partnerships, environmental education by town, membership and volunteer recruitment, or ecologically sustainable development projects. Published information also uses different definitions and reporting periods.
The assessments below therefore use verified evidence rather than extrapolation. Where substantial activity is evident but the precise numerical target cannot be demonstrated, the goal has not been recorded as achieved.
2026 Assessment: Strong progress – target may have been reached, but cannot yet be verified
There is strong evidence of sustained delivery of community NRM events across the Northern Agricultural Region. Activities include field days, workshops and training, community planting and restoration activities, beach and river clean-ups, citizen-science activities, environmental education, Aboriginal cultural and ecological knowledge activities, and sustainable-agriculture extension.
Published reporting demonstrates substantial activity. NACC NRM alone has reported extensive engagement across sustainable agriculture, biodiversity, coastal and marine, Aboriginal Custodianship and community programs. In 2024–25, it worked with more than 150 community members and volunteers and at least 37 groups across the region. Its Sustainable Agriculture Facilitator recorded 96 engagement activities involving 25 community groups during that year.
These figures represent only part of regional activity. Community environmental organisations, Traditional Owner organisations and ranger groups, grower groups, local governments, schools, government agencies and other organisations independently deliver NRM-related events throughout the NAR. The region also supports an extensive network of producer-led organisations delivering field days, workshops, demonstrations, research extension and sustainable land-management activities.
Available evidence therefore indicates substantial progress towards the 200-event target and suggests that cumulative qualifying activity across the region may already approach or exceed it. However, no consolidated whole-of-NAR event register exists, and published reports use different definitions of events, engagement activities and participation. Adding these figures together would risk double-counting collaborative events or including activities that do not meet the NARvis definition.
The target therefore cannot yet be formally confirmed as achieved.
2026 Assessment: Progressing – target not yet demonstrated
Citizen science is well established within the Northern Agricultural Region, with community members contributing to biodiversity, bird, marine, coastal and pollution monitoring.
One of the strongest examples is the Great Cocky Count, BirdLife Australia’s annual citizen-science survey of black-cockatoos. Volunteers monitor roost sites across south-western Western Australia, including the northern extent around Geraldton and Chapman Valley, and the resulting records are used to assess black-cockatoo numbers, population trends and important habitat.
At Jurien Bay Marine Park, the long-running Jurien Bay Marine Debris Program provides another strong example. Delivered collaboratively by DBCA and Curtin University with student volunteers, the program has operated since 2014. Volunteers collect and classify marine debris from coastal transects including Jurien Bay, Sandy Cape, Hill River and the coastline between Grey and Wedge Island. Data are entered into the Australian Marine Debris Database, where they can be used by local, state and national government, industry and communities to understand marine pollution and changes over time.
Other regional citizen-science and community-monitoring activities include BirdLife/Birdata bird monitoring, shorebird surveys, Redmap marine-species observations, ClimateWatch, Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo monitoring, volunteer flora surveys and other biodiversity monitoring.
These activities demonstrate significant citizen-science capacity within the NAR. However, the NARvis target requires more than the existence of citizen-science projects: 10 distinct project partnerships must contribute monitoring data to recognised datasets at least once every year.
Available public evidence does not currently verify that requirement for 10 separate partnerships. Some projects are short-term or have concluded, while for others the frequency of data submission or destination dataset cannot be confirmed.
The target should therefore not yet be recorded as achieved.
2026 Assessment: Strong progress – 30-town target not yet formally demonstrated
Environmental education and NRM capacity-building occur across a broad geographical area of the Northern Agricultural Region.
Documented activities include biodiversity and citizen-science programs, soil-health and sustainable-agriculture workshops, field days, coastal and marine education, Aboriginal cultural and ecological education, community environmental events and activities involving schools.
Published evidence demonstrates activities across numerous coastal and inland communities, including Geraldton, Gingin, Moora, Dandaragan, Coorow, Mingenew, Yuna, Walkaway, Mullewa, Morawa, Perenjori and Wannamal, with further NRM activity reported in smaller communities and localities across the region.
Delivery is shared across a broad network rather than undertaken by any single organisation. Grower groups alone provide a substantial education and extension network across the agricultural areas of the NAR, alongside community NRM groups, Traditional Owners and Custodians, Aboriginal organisations, local governments, schools, government agencies, NGOs and NACC NRM.
The evidence therefore demonstrates strong geographical progress towards the 30-town target. However, no consolidated regional register records qualifying environmental education projects by town. Some activities are reported by property, project site or locality rather than town, and published descriptions do not always identify the audience sufficiently to determine whether an activity meets the target.
A verified minimum of 30 distinct towns therefore cannot presently be established without making assumptions, and the target should not yet be recorded as achieved.
2026 Assessment: Strong progress – at least 20 active groups are likely, but the specified viability measure is not verified
The Northern Agricultural Region continues to support an extensive network of community-based organisations contributing to natural resource management. These include Landcare and catchment groups, conservation and Friends groups, citizen-science organisations and farmer-led groups involved in sustainable agriculture, soil health, biodiversity, revegetation, pest management and landscape resilience.
Current examples include Yarra Yarra Catchment Management Group, Moore Catchment Council, Chapman River Friends, Greenough River Friends, Friends of Moore River Estuary, Jurien Bay Regional Herbarium Group, BirdLife Midwest-Geraldton and Friends of Hillview Reserve, alongside numerous farmer-led organisations.
Grower groups form an important component of community NRM capacity in the agricultural areas of the region. The Northern Agricultural Region supports organisations including the Liebe Group, Mingenew Irwin Group, Moora Miling Pasture Improvement Group, Morawa Farm Improvement Group, Mullewa Dryland Farmers Initiative, Northern Agri Group, Three Springs Farm Innovation Network, West Midlands Group and Yuna Farm Improvement Group, among others.
Some organisations demonstrate substantial current membership. Yarra Yarra Catchment Management Group, for example, reports having 180 members and operates across the shires of Perenjori, Carnamah, Three Springs, Morawa and Dalwallinu. Regional reporting provides further evidence of the scale of participation. In 2024–25, NACC NRM reported working with more than 150 community members and volunteers and at least 37 groups, while its Sustainable Agriculture Facilitator engaged with 25 community groups.
Available evidence therefore strongly suggests that at least 20 active community-based organisations contributing to NRM continue to operate within the NAR. However, the NARvis goal is more specific than simply maintaining 20 active groups. It requires groups to remain viable through ongoing recruitment of volunteers or members. Public reporting does not consistently provide comparable information on recruitment, membership trends or organisational viability for individual groups.
The precise target therefore cannot yet be formally confirmed as achieved.
The measure itself may also warrant review. Long-term organisational viability can depend on governance, succession planning, staffing, funding diversity and organisational capacity as well as volunteer numbers. In some circumstances, reducing excessive dependence on volunteers can strengthen rather than weaken the sustainability of community organisations.
2026 Assessment: Strong progress – target not yet verified
Ecologically sustainable development is increasingly evident in built environments across the Northern Agricultural Region. Implemented projects include renewable-energy and battery systems, electric-vehicle charging infrastructure, walking and cycling infrastructure, solar installations on community and local-government buildings, water-efficiency infrastructure and other initiatives intended to reduce resource consumption and improve community resilience.
A significant recent example is the Geraldton Airport Microgrid, completed in 2026. The renewable-energy microgrid improves energy resilience for Geraldton Airport and the adjacent emergency-services precinct while contributing towards the City of Greater Geraldton’s net-zero objectives.
Active-transport infrastructure has also expanded. New sections of Geraldton’s cycling and shared-path network have been delivered since 2021, including the Glenfield Beach Drive and Chapman Road shared paths and further connections towards Tarcoola Beach. The Railway Street Safe Active Street provides another example of infrastructure designed to encourage walking and cycling.
Electric-vehicle infrastructure has expanded across the region, with WA EV Network charging facilities operating at locations including Lancelin, Jurien Bay, Geraldton and Northampton. Dalwallinu has also installed rapid EV charging infrastructure.
Inland communities provide further examples of smaller-scale ESD measures, including solar installations on local-government and community facilities and projects designed to improve water capture, storage and water-use efficiency.
These examples demonstrate substantial progress. However, available public reporting does not provide a consolidated whole-of-region register of ESD projects. A conservative evidence review identifies numerous qualifying projects but does not yet establish 25 separately implemented projects without including projects that pre-date the current NARvis reporting period, remain in planning or construction, or risk being double-counted as components of larger programs.
Proposed developments should not be counted until implementation is confirmed, and individual sustainability components within a single project should not automatically be counted as separate projects.
The 2030 target therefore should not yet be recorded as achieved.
Community capacity for natural resource management remains strong, diverse and geographically widespread across the Northern Agricultural Region.
The evidence demonstrates substantial community participation through volunteer organisations, citizen science, environmental education, sustainable-agriculture extension, community restoration, Traditional Owner and Aboriginal land-management activities, environmental monitoring and increasingly sustainable community infrastructure.
Importantly, this activity is delivered by a regional network rather than a single organisation. Community and Landcare groups, Traditional Owners and Custodians, Aboriginal organisations and ranger groups, grower groups, local governments, schools, universities and training organisations, government agencies, NGOs, industry, landholders and volunteers all contribute to NRM capacity.
None of the five numerical goals can presently be confirmed as achieved using publicly available evidence alone. This should not be interpreted as evidence of weak community capacity.
Instead, a consistent issue across the five goals is the absence of a whole-of-NAR monitoring system that records activity using the specific units established by NARvis. In several cases — particularly community events and active community groups — actual regional activity may already approach or exceed the 2030 numerical target, but available information cannot demonstrate this without extrapolation or potential double-counting.
Improved regional reporting would allow future NARvis assessments to distinguish more clearly between lack of progress and lack of measurable evidence.
