Multi-objective planning in northern Australia: co-benefits and trade-offs between environmental, economic, and cultural outcomes. Final report to the Australian Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment
Multi-objective planning in northern Australia: co-benefits and trade-offs between environmental, economic, and cultural outcomes. Final report to the Australian Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment
- Author(s): Álvarez-Romero, Jorge G, Kiatkoski Kim Milena, Pannell, David, Douglas, Michael M, Wallace, Ken, Hill, Rosemary, Adams, Vanessa M, Spencer-Cotton, Alaya, Kennard, Mark, Pressey, Robert L
- Published: 2021
- Publisher: James Cook University
Abstract: Given proposed expansion of developments in northern Australia and current tensions among stakeholders, there is a need to develop new planning approaches that support multiple uses of land and water, while maintaining environmental and cultural values. This project aimed to demonstrate how to operationalise multi-objective catchment planning supported by scenario thinking, by which stakeholders can collaboratively construct and assess the outcomes of alternative development futures. The project follows a participatory scenario planning approach to guide stakeholders through a systematic and critical examination of possible development trajectories and their associated environmental and socioeconomic outcomes. The process and outcomes of this project will be summarised in a planning toolkit, which can be used by diverse stakeholders to inform future land/water use decisions. The development of the toolkit includes identifying, selecting, parameterising, and integrating spatially explicit tools and models to inform the scenario planning process. In collaboration with stakeholders, we collated and integrated data, parameterise tools and models, and use modelling outputs to guide the development of scenarios, including spatially explicit maps of future land/water uses. The project provide diverse outputs that can support planning in the Fitzroy River catchment, but followed planning methods and tools that can be used elsewhere in Australia.
- Urls: https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/65320/
- Publisher Location: Townsville