Community Participation and Capacity Building

Land & Water Australia gives high priority to social and institutional research aimed at improving community participation in natural resource management and building community capacity. Under the community participation and capacity building theme, we invest in both the social (people, communities and culture) and institutional (policy, economics, law, organisations, governance and management) dimensions of natural resource management.

While there is now greater awareness of social and institutional issues and more social science research is undertaken, users of natural resource management research comment on the need to maintain a focus on social and institutional research evidence, particularly in a context of rapid change. This includes the implementation of the Australian Government’s Caring for Our Country, Australia’s Farming Future, Australia’s Water Future, Adapting to Climate Change programs, and its policies on community skills, knowledge and engagement social inclusion, regional development and indigenous matters (‘Closing the Gap’).

Projects

Publications and Resources

Type	Title	Product Number	Publication Year
Report	Identifying and Characterising the Social Assets of the NRM System	PN30258	2008
	People, Practice and Policy	PN061071	2006