Background :
In 2005, our group developed a Regional-scale natural resource management plan using  a number of existing environmental management documents. New research information was integrated with this information and through consultation with this region’s community, government and industries the new plan took shape.

What does the plan DO ?
It is a document aimed at changing how people live, use and work with our natural resources. A regional-level natural resource management plan maps out the following:

• actions required of those who use and manage our natural assets to maintain their sustainable use, rehabilitate and protect them as required

• approaches people will adopt to achieve these actions

• alliances that will build between people to cooperatively deliver improvements to the condition of our natural assets

Our plan is a document that will be regularly updated to incorporate new knowledge, new issues as they arise and the changing context of the social, economic, and development needs of a our region as it grows. The plan defines the region's natural resource management vision ...

‘The region’s community will meet it's environmental, economic, and social values
through sustainable action into the future.'

WHAT changes as a result of the plan ?
Natural assets in this region have been described in our plan in terms of their current resource condition and the existing threats posed to this condition - described as ‘environmental issues’.

The desired condition to which we could improve these assets are called resource condition targets. This is asset-based resource management.
Resource condition targets (RCTs) are the measurable outcomes of our plan –they are considered to be achievable within a 10-15 year period.

HOW ?

The actions people can take in order to meet these targets have been recommended in the plan.
The result is a list of targets which can be achieved through management actions-the ‘how’ of the management plan.These are short term, management action targets (MATs).

These targets - considered together - define both the objectives and the strategies undertaken through the project work designed to reduce the impact of threats to the maintenance of the sustainable condition of this region’s natural assets.

Projects devised are funded by the Australian and Queensland Governments, coordinated by scientists in the Mackay Whitsunday Natural Resource Management Group and are partnered variously with State and Local Government, industry and /or the community.

Forward and Contents
Introduction
Strategic Framework
Inland Biodiversity
Climate
Coast and Marine
Land
Water and Waterways
Indigenous Resources
Community
Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting
Implementation
Appendices

To make this plan operational, our Regional Investment Strategy was developed as the investment tool for natural resource management in Mackay Whitsunday Region. As an operational tool, it directs our investment in on-ground activties across the region. It was written as a partner document to the Regional Plan to facilitate the delivery of it's recommendations. It details activities that will result in the desired improvements in the condition of the natural assets of this region as recommended by regional scale planning.