Integrated social-ecological data for regional natural resource management

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Social Science
• Data Science

Background:

• Natural resource managers require integrated data on human and natural systems.
• Existing data are often from disparate sources, collected at different temporal and spatial scales.
• A unified dataset is needed to bridge these gaps for effective management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compile and spatially organize a comprehensive dataset of social and ecological variables for Australia.
• To provide metadata categorizing variables for improved data selection by managers.
• To facilitate integrated analysis of human-natural systems.

Main Methods:

• Literature review to identify 270 relevant variables from 33 Australian data sources.
• Spatial summarization of variables using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for Natural Resource Management (NRM) Regions and Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) bioregions.
• Data categorization based on system type (social, ecological, interactions), societal segment, and update frequency.

Main Results:

• A dataset comprising 425 variables (143 for 2016, 148 for 2021, 134 for both periods) was compiled.
• Variables were spatially summarized for 63 NRM regions and 419 IBRA regions.
• Data deficiencies were noted for offshore islands and small IBRA regions, impacting completeness.

Conclusions:

• The developed dataset and metadata provide a valuable resource for natural resource managers.
• The categorization aids in selecting appropriate data for specific management contexts.
• Addressing data gaps is crucial for more complete spatial analyses of human-natural systems.