LANDCARE GIS - EVALUATING LAND MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS IN AUSTRALIA

Land degradation in Australia is a persistent national problem. Austra lian governments, in partnership with community groups, are addressing land degradation through initiatives such as the Decade of Landcare P lan and the National Landcare Program (NLP). The NLP has funded over 3 500 projects, through various sub-programs since the start of the Deca de of Landcare in 1990. The Commonwealth Government is currently evalu ating these programs as Australia enters the middle of the decade. To assist this evaluation, the Bureau of Resource Sciences has developed a spatial information system-LANDCARE GIS-to provide an integrated ana lytical approach. LANDCARE GIS has been used to identify and analyse t he spatial relationships between the NLP, land resource condition and land use practices. It presently contains five main categories of data including: details of projects; national and State surveys of land co ndition. State surveys of landcare groups; surveys of landcare and lan d management practices; and other resource, biophysical and socio-econ omic data. LANDCARE GIS is one of the first examples of spatial inform ation technology developed for the evaluation of Australian Government programs and policies. It is able to provide information on the effec tiveness of programs and on the strategic allocation of resources with in priority areas. A preliminary assessment of landcare activities is described, including (i) descriptions of NLP activities, (ii) the exte nt to which the NLP is targeting land degradation problems, (iii) a co mparison of landcare and non-landcare farmer management practices, and (iv) an analysis of farmers' perceptions of land degradation. Many Au stralian Government departments are now adding geographic information systems(GIS) to their management 'tool kits'.