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.

Community event - picnic at the Cotter.

Photos Micheal Schultz