APEN 2001 International Conference

Toowoomba, 4th-5th October 2001

Report No:

15

Title of Topic:

Neighbourhood Catchments- Reaching the other 70

Name of Leader:

Glen Millar

Names of Participants:

Andy Grodechi, Maxine Schache, Fiona Johnson, Anne Crawford, Andrew Craig, Liz Otto, Shane Flint, Tony Nunan, Dan Galligan, Gavin Inglis, Tina Ball, Stephanie Andreata, Jason Trompf, Rowland Holmes, Peter, Tarello (?), Margaret Cruikshank, John Bagshaw.

Main points of discussion

Agreement on:

• It is common in many areas of the country that people are overwhelmed by the range and complexity of natural resource information, and groups delivering it.
• Many people are not responding to current methods of information delivery, or accessing it.
• There is a great lack of integration in information presented to landholders and the community.
• Networks that landholders have with others are not always effective at disseminating information further.
• Catchments should be viewed as social systems, and not just physical ones.
• Group work is very strategic initially to achieve a lot with little resources, however…
• There must be a mechanism to reach all the other people.
• There is a necessity to identify social groups within catchments.
• Our audience is more than landholders, and includes government, banks etc as examples.
• There is a need to identify what ‘switches’ people on, or motivates them.

Major outcomes (what have you achieved from this discussion; how can this make a difference; what else do you need to do?)

• Expand through identifying priority catchments and priority areas.
• Have a good understanding of our audience.
• Foster and increase integration of work and information.
• Look closely at the history of a region to identify why they are where they are, and how this affects our approach.
• Recognise our audience is more than landholders.
• Give strong feedback that 3-year projects that address sustainability are a joke.
• Understand the culture of our audience, and those they interact with.
• Ensure feedback to landholders.