Building Capacity
for river and riparian restoration

Contents

• Theme: Building capacity for river and riparian restoration.
• Assessing capacity for riparian restoration
• Understanding individual and community capacity
• Adaptive management - building capacity in our NRM institutions
• Capacity building through extension and education
• Building capacity to untangle regional and natural resource management
• Building capacity in our research community
• Rapt in rivers: Rivers Arena update
• Growing capacity - Greening Australia style
• It's a Wrap: news from around Australia's States and Territories

Building Capacity for river and riparian restoration

We've been hearing a lot about community 'capacity' and 'capacity building' lately, but what do these terms really mean for people involved in riparian restoration at individual, group and institutional scales? In this issue of RipRap, we explore what 'capacity' and 'capacity building' mean for natural resource management and present some practical experiences of different groups and agencies around Australia.

From the Editor

The terms 'capacity' and 'capacity building' have become buzz words - you hear them all the time in relation to natural resource management (NRM), yet there is a lack of clarity about what they actually mean. This edition of RipRap will bring you up to date on the theory behind the idea of capacity building, as well as information about how different researchers and groups are practically building capacity in communities across Australia. The people contributing to this edition have been involved in a research project funded through the National Riparian Lands R&D Program that investigated whether capacity had been built in communities undertaking riparian restoration. This project has developed a 'capacity assessment tool' to assist people in working out where to direct resources to build the capacity they need to reach their NRM goals. The edition is timely, as Land & Water Australia's Social and Institutional Research Program is releasing its new publication People make a difference. This publication highlights that in order to fulfil triple bottom line NRM outcomes, we need to consider the social aspects of NRM. I hope you find this edition useful, and encourage you to follow-up on the articles and stories it covers.

Download Adobe Acrobat version of Building Capacity for river and riparian restoration (riprap24.pdf 2.9Mb)

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