The Australian Natural Resource Management Knowledge System.
Three key ingredients are needed for more sustainable management of natural resources.
People need to know what to do and how to do it; they must want to do it; and they need to be able to do it. Knowledge, commitment and capacity are essential to underpin changes towards more sustainable systems of land, water and vegetation management at all scales.
This paper analyses Australian progress on the knowledge component of the sustainability
equation. It contends that there are many areas of genuine innovation and pockets of excellence, but that overall we are not putting it all together as well as we might.
We need to invest in new knowledge and in making better use of what we know already:
1. to help people, businesses, industries and governments make better decisions at all levels of management and policy;
2. to energise the innovation process so that we can develop more sustainable land use and management systems and technologies; and
3. to help communities and the nation as a whole to learn as we go along, so that we make best use of existing knowledge and past experience.