Natural resources values
The ACT’s natural assets promote social and economic wellbeing (e.g. clean water, aesthetically pleasing landscapes, a sense of place, recreational opportunities) and contribute to wider ecosystem services across the region. Keeping them in good condition is the best way to ensure they continue to deliver benefi ts as well as protecting their capacity to adapt to uncertain future climate.
The ACT community is an asset to the territory. People are a part of the landscape and even while they are the main source of pressure on other assets (land, water and biodiversity), they also hold the capacity to reduce the pressure and repair previous damage.
Status: The ACT community is changing. As household sizes decrease, pressure for land development is increasing. Increasing affluence and lifestyle choices also increase pressure on natural resources.
Management: Better natural resource management requires acceptance of, and involvement and activity in sustainability issues by the community. Canberrans are better educated and wealthier than in any other capital city in Australia. This gives them great potential to become involved.
The land is the substrate on which communities (natural and built) are supported. The land needs to be protected from erosion by wind and water, rising salt, loss of soil condition, increasing acidity or alkalinity, and development.
Status: The precise condition of much of the land in the ACT is not known, as baseline data are not available. A comprehensive soil and water data collection process and land capability study, funded through the Decade of Landcare Program, has identified some land-use issues and given some detail of land condition. However, the data are in an inaccessible format and now need to be reviewed. Further studies need to be undertaken to give an accurate baseline 4.
Management: Challenges include, increasing soil permeability, structural stability, increasing nutrient cycling and moistureholding capacity, increasing soil carbon, reducing soil erosion and topsoil loss and enhancing hydrological connectivity.
Photos Micheal Schultz
- ACT Commissioner for the Environment 2003 ACT State of the Environment Report: Land Degradation Indicator Result 2004.
Natural resources values - 2
Water resources include the water in rivers, streams and ponds – the water that ACT residents use, the water that flows down the Murrumbidgee River to other consumers and the water that supports biodiversity.
Status: Although water quality has varied over time and across the ACT as land-use and weather have changed, the ACT has a minimal impact on water quality in the Murrumbidgee. Land planning and management influence transport and delivery of pollutants into the main drainage system. Elevated salt loads are derived from salts excreted from the human population rather than from degraded catchment condition. Levels of blue-green algae are often above safe levels. Drought, the bushfires of 2001 and 2003, large storms and accidental discharge of sewage also compromise water safety.
Under current climatic conditions, the amount of water available is also an issue both for direct human use and environmental flows.
Management: Challenges include securing enough water for all consumers (rural, urban and environment), ensuring that it is of an appropriate quality and that it is used efficiently.
Diversity of life (plants, animals and other organisms) is essential to maintain a healthy natural environment. Keeping the variety of species is important, but so too is keeping a diversity of the ecosystems that provide their homes.
Status: Two ecological communities and 17 species are endangered in the ACT. A further 14 species are vulnerable and others continue to be threatened.
Management: Challenges include the need to maintain the number and variability of existing species so that they are more able to cope in times of stress; and the need to reduce threats (e.g. from weeds, development, fire).
Photo Environment ACT
Photo Sarah Ryan