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Natural resources investment program

The Queensland Government is investing more than $61 million between 2018 and 2022 to ensure the state’s natural land and water resources are sustainably managed. This includes dedicated funds for Great Barrier Reef catchments.

The Natural Resources Investment Program (NRIP) funding acknowledges the important role that the natural resource management bodies and the community play in repairing and improving Queensland’s unique assets for future generations.

The funding targets projects that will produce on ground, natural resource outcomes as measured by consistent statewide monitoring methodologies and performance indicators. Outcomes include the sustainable management of our natural resources including land, water, vegetation and reef water quality.

The program works under a natural resource management (NRM) asset framework with these priorities and principles (PDF, 139.8KB) .

Projects currently funded by the program

Regional body	Project name
Burnett Mary Regional Group	Streambank and wetland recovery for reef water quality Regional support for the Paddock to Reef Program Regional coordination and evaluation
Cape York Natural Resource Management	Regional support for the Paddock to Reef Program Improving native vegetation and soil condition of grazing lands within the joint management area Springvale Station West Normanby Distal Gully demonstration site Regional coordination and evaluation
Desert Channels Queensland	Stewardship of the rangelands – Planning, action and knowledge Spring mounds Regional coordination and evaluation
Fitzroy Basin Association	Regional support for the Paddock to Reef Program Increasing native woody vegetation on farms in the Fitzroy Basin Regional coordination and evaluation
Healthy Land and Water	Improving adoption of best practice to improve soil health, land condition, water quality, through grazing best management practices in South East Queensland Regional coordination and evaluation
Northern Gulf Resource Management Group	Gulf Rivers Riparian Improvement Program – Targeted action to protect and restore prioritised areas of the Gilbert catchment Regional coordination and evaluation
NQ Dry Tropics	Linking Burdekin landholders to their frontage country for vegetation, soil and water quality gains Regional support for the Paddock to Reef Program Reducing fine sediments by maintaining and restoring Burdekin stream banks and coastal wetlands Regional coordination and evaluation
Reef Catchments	Addressing priority sub-catchment water quality targets through grazing management interventions Improving the relative ecological condition of freshwater streams and wetlands in the Mackay Whitsundays Regional coordination and evaluation
NRM Regions Queensland	Regional support for the Paddock to Reef Program
Southern Gulf Natural Resource Management	Southern Gulf Graziers Leading Landscape Change Regional coordination and evaluation
Southern Queensland Landscapes	Protecting and enhancing key soil, water and vegetation assets of southern inland Queensland Regional coordination and evaluation
Terrain NRM	Upper Johnstone Integrated Project - Improving reef water quality by reducing sediment loss Mossman Integrated Catchment Repair Project: Building landscape resilience with farmers – for farmers Statewide indicators Regional support for the Paddock to Reef Program Many hands make light work – Wet Tropics partnerships for improving native vegetation condition Regional coordination and evaluation
Torres Strait Regional Authority	Natural resource management, engagement and education in the Torres Strait region Regional coordination and evaluation

Program components

Natural resource

Projects of up to 4 years that demonstrate a contribution to the program priority outcomes include the following categories.

Land: Building stable and resilient landscapes

• Health and stability of soil
• Condition and extent of native woody and non-woody vegetation

Water: Achieving sustainable use and management of water

• Quality and flow of surface water overland and in-stream (including reef water quality)
• Quality and level of groundwater

People and communities: Facilitating effective regional management and stewardship

• NRM capacity (knowledge and skills)
• NRM aspirations and attitudes (awareness and engagement)

Science and knowledge: Understanding the state of NRM assets and effectiveness of interventions

• NRM asset monitoring and analysis
• Project/program evaluation and outcome reporting

Projects funded under this component and undertaken by regional delivery organisations will deliver landscape outcomes focusing on areas at risk of land or water degradation.

Reef water quality

Projects are specifically aimed at:

• reducing the amount of sediment flowing to the Great Barrier Reef from high priority catchments
• targeted landscape repair with activities including:
  • gully, streambank and wetland repair, revegetation and restoration
  • practice change to improve soil management and groundcover management.

Activities are aligned with achieving the Reef Water Quality Protection Plan targets.

Paddock to Reef

Targeted projects focused on continuing the Paddock to Reef Integrated Monitoring, Modelling and Reporting Program specific to the regional delivery organisations based in the reef catchments.

Activities include data collection, management and reporting, regional liaison and regional communications.

Innovation

Projects are aimed at developing new and more efficient processes, technologies, activities and/or tools to deliver landscape outcomes focusing on land or water degradation.

Regional coordination and evaluation

Projects aim to develop the monitoring, evaluation, reporting and improvement capacity to all regional delivery organisations ensuring consistency in the delivery of NRM outcomes.

Activities undertaken include:

• consistent measurement of the impact projects have had on the natural resource asset
• consistent capture, collation and management of data across NRIP projects
• building and maintaining strategic partnerships with stakeholders to share knowledge and gain efficiencies
• retaining and building organisational capacity through training and developing processes for sharing learnings across projects.

Farm water futures funding

The Farm Water Futures Program is a component of the Natural Resource Investment Program 2018-2022. It follows on from the former Rural Water Use Efficiency - Irrigation Futures program 2013-2018.

The Queensland Government is providing funding over 3 years to enable Queensland’s key irrigator groups to access advice and support on addressing the challenge of water efficiency.

The program supports:

• partnerships with industry and its member organisations to deliver one-on-one water efficiency support and advice to farmers
• on-ground adoption of rural water use efficient activities, while working towards a self-sufficient funding model over the 3-year period.

The industry bodies who have been funded for the program are:

• CANEGROWERS
• Cotton Australia
• Growcom Australia
• Flowers Association of Queensland
• Nursery & Garden Industry Queensland
• Queensland Dairyfarmers’ Organisation.

Upcoming rounds of funding

Funding has been fully allocated until 2022.

For more information, or to register for updates, please email nrip@resources.qld.gov.au.

Reports

• The Queensland Government’s Natural Resources Investment Program 2018-22: Annual report 2019-20 presents the key achievements of the second year of the Natural Resources Investment Program 2018-22. In addition to reviewing key achievements, the report highlights selected innovations and adaptations made in response to a range of challenges including the global pandemic.
• Read the final report for the Natural Resource Management Investment Program 2012-2018 (PDF, 5.7MB).
• Download earlier reports from our library collection.

Contact us

• For further information about projects funded under the previous programs, email your request to nrip@resources.qld.gov.au.