Watershed Management in New South Wales, Australia: A Case of Constrained Decentralization?

Abstract

"In Australia, catchment management--a watershed management initiative--is an example of moving decision-making for NRM from the State to the catchment (watershed) level. New South Wales (NSW) was the first Australian State to adopt catchment management as a state-wide statutory policy, in the late 1980s. Catchment management has since undergone a number of institutional changes. Specific legislation, for instance, have been introduced and reformed, such as the Catchment Management Act 1989, the Catchment Management Regulation 1999, and the Catchment Management Authorities Act 2003. Consequently, Catchment Management Committees, which operated in the 1990s were replaced by Catchment Management Boards in 2000, which in turn, have recently been replaced with Catchment Management Authorities.

"This paper presents preliminary findings from a broader study on the NSW catchment management initiative. The paper examines decentralized approaches to NRM as part of such a NSW initiative. Catchment management institutions are analyzed by applying the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework in combination with the recent theorizing on decentralization of NRM."