NDSP - Dryland Salinity and Catchment Management

Dryland Salinity and Catchment Management: A Research Directory for Catchment Managers

Published: May 2004

Dryland Salinity and Catchment Management - a Research Directory for Catchment Managers has been prepared by the NDSP to assist strategic level planning and management about dryland salinity, with particular consideration to integrated natural resource management.

This directory is framed around five vital questions for catchment managers, and each chapter starts by addressing why the particular question is important.

Question 1 - What is the current extent of dryland salinity and its risk of spread?
Question 2 - What are the causes and processes of dryland salinity?
Question 3 - What are the current and predicted impacts and costs of dryland salinity?
Question 4 - What can we do and how do we measure progress?
Question 5 - How do we integrate with other natural resource management issues?

Dryland Salinity and Catchment Management cover.jpg

The lessons from NDSP Phase II and other significant research and investigations at the national, State and regional scales that contribute significantly to answering the questions are also captured, with a series of actions described.

Each action uses three indicative codes on 'Cost', Time' and 'Confidence' to further inform regional decision-making processes. The 'Cost' code refers in very general terms to the cost of implementing the action. The 'Time' code refers to the time to undertake the action, not the time to achieve a result. The 'Confidence' code refers to the degree of confidence in achieving the anticipated result should we implement the action - if the confidence is low it is generally a consequence of limited examples of implementation or of mixed results.

While the review of information has been extensive, some examples of local and regional research will be missing and we should be careful not to overlook these by consulting local experts and resource libraries. Examples are provided where possible to demonstrate advances in thinking and technology applied at a catchment level. We will see that the answers to these five major questions are inevitably incomplete, and that there are gaps in our understanding to inform regional decision-making.

The research findings are therefore used to look forward and ask 'Where to from here?' The ideas and directions provided here are intended to inform planning and management decision-making at the regional level. 'R&D Tips' are provided to direct us to institutions and programs that are major players in furthering research in the area.

A compilation of contacts, information, products and services is included in a special 'Where to get help' section, which goes beyond a detailed list of references to helping us find the specific services we need to support catchment planning and management in addition to the 'R&D Tips'.

Download the electronic version of pdf Dryland Salinity and Catchment Management - a Research Directory for Catchment Managers (pdf - 2158KB) (df 2.1Mb) now.

A printed copy of the Directory and supporting CD-ROM - Managing Dryland Salinity in Australia - Key findings, Research Directory and Action Manuals from Australia's National Dryland Salinity Program can be ordered from the Land & Water Australia online products catalogue