The Victorian Catchment Management Council’s (VCMC), 2017 Catchment Condition and Management Report has been tabled in the Victorian parliament. This is the fifth Catchment Condition and Management Report by the VCMC over a period of 20 years.
This cycle the VCMC looked beyond state-wide condition reporting to harness more in-depth regional reporting. A consistent set of five themes form the basis of this report: land, water, biodiversity, coasts and community.
The report found that while the condition of land, biodiversity and coasts are in decline, management practices are promising.
The report’s investigators outlined four recommendations for action:
- Improve the quality of reporting
- Implement mandatory monitoring
- Involve catchment communities
- Provide a five-year funding cycle