Effective partnerships delivering better stakeholder collaboration.

Working together for greater outcomes

Capacity to Deliver - LP022-R001

The issue

Partnerships are fundamental to successful delivery of natural resource management programs. Effective collaboration, knowledge sharing and the utilisation of the range of skills that partners can bring all contribute to better project design, greater stakeholder engagement and quality implementation.

Weed management is a particularly complex challenge that needs broad-scale involvement and support across government agencies, non-government organisations, community groups and landholders. On the North Coast, Landcare plays an important role in the community by often being the first point of contact for landholders seeking information about weed identification, best practice control and options for support and funding. In many areas, Landcare is also actively undertaking weed control across local groups and contracted projects on various land tenures.

The solution

To better align Landcare with other key stakeholders in weed management, a partnership project was developed between North Coast Local Land Services and North Coast Regional Landcare Network. The project sought to bring a community-based approach to identifying priority weeds and implementing targeted control. Through the project, the participating Landcare Networks delivered 13 projects, at a cost of $295,000, focussed on priority weeds identified in the North Coast Regional Strategic Weed Management Plan 2017-2022. A valuable outcome was that the Landcare networks could take the projects much further than just weed control – also providing advice and assistance to landholders to revegetate areas of weed removal, fence riparian erosion areas and other NRM matters. The local projects required engagement with Local Control Authorities including local councils and county councils which further developed closer connections and working relationships that can be used into the future to develop and deliver joint initiatives for strategic weed control. Landcare often works on sites or around ecological assets such as rainforest or a wetland, however this project presented an opportunity for Landcare to adapt its approaches to weed control to target priority weed species at the landscape-scale.

The impact

By learning more about the relatively new NSW Biosecurity Act 2015, and key components of that legislation such as the ‘General Biosecurity Duty’ and ‘Biosecurity Undertakings’, Landcare networks built their capacity to support the community and landholders with relevant and useful information. Landcare representatives are invited as committee members of the Regional Weed Committee and Weed Advisory Committee, further establishing Landcare as a key regional stakeholder, generating greater participation in regional strategic planning, and better integration and communication of Landcare activities to key government partners.

Author: Josh Keating

Key facts

  • 13 landcare projects delivered costing $295K
  • By working together with government agencies and other partners we can multiply the benefits and outcomes of Landcare projects.
  • Landcare on the North Coast has evolved to be a professional network of coordinators who are leaders in sustainable agriculture and natural resource management.