The South Australian Murray-Darling Basin Natural Resources Management Board (the Board) was established in November 2004 pursuant to Section 23 (1) of the Natural Resources Management Act 2004 (the NRM Act) and became operationally responsible for the SA Murray-Darling Basin Region on the 1st July 2005.
One of the key functions of a regional NRM board (a board) is the preparation of a regional NRM plan which contains, among other things, information relating to the state and condition of the natural resources within a board’s region and identifies goals relating to the management of those natural resources.
The components of a board’s regional plan will include a 10-year strategic plan and a 3-year business plan which incorporates an implementation program that provides an assessment of the staffing, physical and financial resources required by the board to implement the plan in any one year including the establishment of any proposed levies.
The process involved in the preparation and adoption of a regional NRM plan is extensive and takes approximately 2 years to complete. Section 84 of the NRM Act enables a board to prepare an initial regional NRM plan that does not need to satisfy all the requirements of the NRM Act. The SA Murray-Darling Basin NRM Board produced its initial plan for 2006-07, which was adopted by the Minister for the River Murray in accordance with the requirements under the NRM Act.
The NRM Act allows a board to operate under its initial plan while it prepares a comprehensive plan. However, a board must bring the initial plan into a form that satisfies all the requirements of the NRM Act by amendments to the plan, or through substitution of a comprehensive plan that satisfies those requirements, as soon as practicable.
The SA Murray-Darling Basin NRM Board is currently in the process of preparing its comprehensive regional natural resources management plan.
While doing this, the NRM Act (Section 81(1)) requires that a board undertake an annual review of its existing regional natural resources management plan.
In accordance with Section 81 of the Natural Resources Management Act 2004, on the Annual Review, the Board must amend the plan so that it:
- specifies the next ensuing three financial years as the period to which its business plan relates
- includes an estimate of the expenditure for the first year of that period
- states the source of funds necessary to meet the expenditure for the first year of its business plan
- propose amendments (if any) that are required for consistency with the State Water Plan
- propose such other amendments to the plan that the Board considers to be necessary or desirable
To view the PDF version of the SAMDBNRM Annual Review 2006 Click Here