The Natural Resource Management (NRM) Regions dataset is maintained for the purpose of authoritative reporting on the Australian Government's NRM investments. The dataset is designed to cover all Australian territory where Australian Government funded NRM projects might take place and includes major islands, external territories, and state and coastal waters in addition to the NRM regional boundaries. Whilst the boundaries of NRM Regions are defined by legislation in some states and territories, this dataset should not be used to represent legal boundaries in any way. It is an administrative dataset developed for the purpose of reporting and public information. It should be noted that from time to time the states and/or territories may revise their regional boundaries in accordance with local needs and therefore alterations to either the attribution or boundaries of the data may occur in the future.Current VersionAs part of Phase Two of the National Landcare Program (NLP) the Australian Government's natural resource management (NRM) investments will be delivered with Regional Delivery Partners (RDPs) across 56 management units. These replace the previous NLP management units used in NLP Phase One. They are officially referred to as Regional Delivery Partners for Environmental Protection, Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Services 2022. The spatial data for RDP management units are derived from the NRM Regions spatial data, as described below.The 2022 dataset defines NRM Region boundaries and Regional Delivery Partner management units in a single dataset, thereby overcoming version control issues with the previous approach of publishing separate data layers for each.To handle a variety of required derivations, a fundamental set of 64 NRM Region map objects was first defined. This can then be compiled using various queries on non-spatial attributes. For example, as set out below, we can define 56 continental NRM Regions and 8 off-shore NRM regions, or island sub components of NRM regions located on the continent. Across these a total of 56 RDP management units can also be defined.To identify those NRM regions located on the Australian continent, a "continental" field (yes/no) has been included, for the first time, in the 2022 dataset. It allows differentiation between off-shore and continental regions, and accommodates that some NRM regions (ie one each in NSW and Tasmania) have both a continental part (eg North Coast, NSW) and an off-shore part (eg North Coast - Lord Howe Island).In accordance with the Australian Government’s Remote Indigenous Procurement Policy (RIPP) and its application to NRM regional investment, we have identified 16 RDP management units with more than 50% overlap with RIPP areas, as defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. A RIPP field (yes/no) is included in the attribute table.The data structure allows either NRM Regions, RDP management units and those RDPs overlapping RIPPs to be mapped from the single dataset using the NRM_REGION, RDP_NAME and RIPP fields respectively. NRM_ID, RDP_ID and RIPP fields may also be used.The 2022 version updates the previous version (2020). In total, the 2022 version dataset comprises 64 NRM map objects for 62 NRM regions. These comprise 56 mainland regions (of which two have associated islands as separate map objects), the Torres Strait NRM region, and a further five external territories. Four of these external territories are islands and one is classified as Marine NRM.Using the RDP_NAME or RDP_ID fields to map Regional Delivery Partner management units will result in 56 RDP management unitsThese comprise: 54 mainland RDP management units (two of which have island components); Torres Strait; and a "Marine NRM" management unit. The Marine NRM unit combines Australia's Territorial Sea (from 3 nautical miles to 12 nautical miles) and Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone (to 200 nautical miles) as well as Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Christmas Island, Cocos Keeling Islands and Heard and McDonald Islands. It excludes coastal waters (to 3 nautical miles) which are part of the terrestrial RDP management units. It also excludes the Australian Antarctic Territory and Norfolk Island.The 2022 version was derived from the former NRM regions series (latest version was 2020), originally established in 2006 as the "Natural Heritage Trust II (NHT2) Region Boundaries" dataset. Changes to the 2020 version in creating the 2022 version include the following.Natural Resource Management Regions- 'Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges' NRM_Region split into 'Green Adelaide' and 'Hills ad Fleurieu'- Added two new NRM_IDs (4011 for Green Adelaide and 4012 for Hills ad Fleurieu)Regional Delivery Partner management units- Changed 'National Landcare Program Management Units' to 'Regional Delivery Partners for Environmental Protection, Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Services'- 'Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges' split into 'Green Adelaide' and 'Hills ad Fleurieu'- Added two new RDP_IDs (4011 for Green Adelaide and 4012 for Hills ad Fleurieu)- 'Torres Strait', 'Green Adelaide' and 'Marine NRM' added * to match note management unit covered through other financial arrangements- 'South West Queensland', 'Maranoa Balonne and Border Rivers' and 'Condamine' combined into 'Southern Queensland' with light grey dotted line to denote NRM borders.- Added the following fields to differentiate RDPs from NRMs- -RDP_ID- -RDP_NAME- -RDP_DESC (Previously AREA_DESC)- -RIPP- 'Torres Strait' and 'Green Adelaide' symbology changed to grey hatched filling.- The management units are coloured based on their overlap with the remote Indigenous Procurement Policy area (RIPP).- Remote management units are orange – to be incl. the management unit needed to have more than 50% overlap with the RIPP.- Non-remote management units are green- Management units covered through other financial arrangements management units are grey with hatchingPrevious VersionsThe 2020 version NLP Management Units dataset contained 58 separate map objects. These comprised: 56 mainland Management Units; a separate object for Lord Howe Island (part of North Coast, NSW Management Unit); and a "Marine NRM" Management Unit which combined Australia's Territorial Sea (from 3 nautical miles to 12 nautical miles) and Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone (to 200 nautical miles). It excluded coastal waters (to 3 nautical miles) which are part of the terrestrial NLP Management Units. It also excluded Ashmore & Cartier Islands, Australian Antarctic Territory, Christmas Island, Cocos & Keeling Islands, Macquarie Island, Heard & MacDonald Islands and Norfolk Island, and those parts of Australia's Territorial Sea and Exclusive Economic Zone that surround these locations.The 2020 version was derived from the former NRM regions series, originally established in 2006 as the "Natural Heritage Trust II (NHT2) Region Boundaries" dataset. The 2017 version, from which the 2020 version was developed, was itself an update to 2016 v2 in which changes were made to boundaries of six of Western Australia’s seven NRM regions, and region names in Qld, Tas and WA.AttributesThe principle data fields in the 2022 version dataset are:-STATE-NRM_REGION-NRM_ID-NRM_DESC (Previously AREA_DESC)-RDP_ID-RDP_NAME-RDP_DESC (Previously AREA_DESC)-RIPP-CONTINENTALNRM_ID and NRM_REGION Names grouped by state/territory are as follows:New South Wales (11 regions + 1 extra map object for Lord Howe Island)1010 Central Tablelands1020 Central West1030 Greater Sydney1040 Hunter1050 Murray1060 North Coast1061 North Coast - Lord Howe Island1070 North West NSW1080 Northern Tablelands1090 Riverina1100 South East NSW1110 WesternVictoria (10 regions)2010 Corangamite2020 East Gippsland2030 Glenelg Hopkins2040 Goulburn Broken2050 Mallee2060 North Central2070 North East2080 Port Phillip and Western Port2090 West Gippsland2100 WimmeraQueensland (15 regions)3010 Burnett Mary3020 Cape York3030 Condamine3040 Co-operative Management Area3050 Desert Channels3060 Fitzroy3070 Burdekin3080 Northern Gulf3090 Maranoa Balonne and Border Rivers3100 Mackay Whitsunday3110 South East Queensland3120 South West Queensland3130 Southern Gulf3140 Wet Tropics3150 Torres StraitSouth Australia (9 regions)4011 Green Adelaide4012 Hills and Fleurieu4020 Alinytjara Wilurara4030 Eyre Peninsula4040 Kangaroo Island4050 Northern and Yorke4060 South Australian Arid Lands4070 South Australian Murray Darling Basin4080 Limestone CoastWestern Australia (7 regions)5010 Northern Agricultural Region5020 Peel-Harvey Region5030 Swan Region5040 Rangelands Region5050 South Coast Region5060 South West Region5070 Avon River BasinTasmania (3 regions + 1 extra map object for Macquarie Island)6010 North West NRM Region6020 North NRM Region6030 South NRM Region6031 South NRM Region - Macquarie IslandsNorthern Territory (1 region)7010 Northern TerritoryAustralian Capital Territory (1 region)8010 ACTExternal Territories (5 regions)9010 Ashmore and Cartier Islands9020 Christmas Island9030 Cocos Keeling Islands9040 Heard and McDonald Islands9060 Marine NRMCredit:The NRM region boundaries (2006 base layer) are primarily based on data and information supplied by the relevant state and territory government agencies. Geoscience Australia's Australian Maritime Boundaries (2014) and Geodata Coast 100K (2004) data were also used in the development of this dataset. Local Land Service region boundaries were sourced from the NSW Government.
