The National Land & Water Resources Audit (the Audit) has been developing a set of natural resource condition indicators as part of the agreed National Natural Resource Management Monitoring and Evaluation Framework. These indicators have identified a range of fundamental data and information needs, without which monitoring and reporting of the health of Australia's natural resources will continue to be difficult.

The National Land & Water Resources Audit (the Audit) and Bureau of Rural Sciences worked with state and territory governments to develop a national baseline of native vegetation extent for the year 2004-2005. Native vegetation mapping was collated by the Audit for the Australian Native Vegetation Assessment 2001. This data is maintained through the National Vegetation Information System (NVIS) and now includes mapping to 2004. The NVIS database was first used to approximate the remaining extent of native vegetation for the 2001 assessment. However, this data represented the extent of mapped vegetation rather than a baseline of native vegetation existing at any particular point in time.

There have been significant organisational, research, education and extension achievements throughout 2007–08.

To demonstrate the benefit of pest control in cotton/grain systems as it relates to native vegetation and native remnant communities. This will be done by understanding:(i) the contribution that native vegetation and native plant communities are making to growing populations of key beneficial insects (predators and parasitoids) and pests;(ii) whether a high native remnant : arable land ratio results in greater pest control; and(iii) the spatial scale at which native remnants contribute to the ecosystem of pest control.

The non-urban areas within 150 kilometres of Australia metropolitan centres are undergoing rapid change and fragmentation, and in many cases, intense conflict. They are the sites of all outer urban expansion; are important sources of environmental, natural and human resources; produce over one quarter of the value of agricultural production; are the locations of much urban water; and contain 50 per cent of threatened biodiversity. The research project, "Change and continuity in peri-urban Australia" aimed to investigate the current state and future possibilities of peri-urban regions in Australia and to contribute to the growing international literature in this area. Peri-urban regions are those areas on the urban periphery into which cities expand or which cities influence. They are usually not homogenous and often contain a disorderly jumble of residential, commercial and rural-residential land uses, often interspersed without apparent order.

This fact sheet outlines a Land & Water Australia project titled 'A bioeconomic analysis of the duration of conservation contracts'. The project aims to inform the decision-making processes of regulators using conservation contracts to protect remnant native vegetation. It focuses on monitoring to assess compliance and environmental outcomes, and to inform the duration of contract agreements with landholders. A simplified case study is used to explore these issues.

In this issue: Focus on Murray Irrigation Limited Area; Burdekin groundwater sustainability initiative: Water use efficiency -what does it mean

This report is the final report of the initial National Land and Water Resources Audit. It summarises the principal findings and describes some of the substantial uses already made of the Audit's information. Recognising the government's commitment to continue the Audit, suggestions are made for its future role.

Australian Catchment, River and Estuary Assessment 2002 presents the key findings for the Audit's Ecosystem Health theme by: *reporting on the condition of catchments, rivers and estuaries within Australia's more intensively used river basins * presenting assessment methods based on an understanding of the key biophysical processes affecting catchment, river and estuary condition *serving as an input towards improved assessment and management. Australian Catchment, River and Estuary Assessment 2002 was prepared in partnership with State, Territory and Commonwealth agencies; the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation; the Cooperative Research Centre for Coastal Zone, Estuary and Waterway Management; the Cooperative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology; Geoscience Australia; CSIRO Land and Water; and CSIRO Marine.

Australian Agriculture Assessment 2001 reports on landscape processes, soil, nutrient and water movement and serves as a key input towards improved land and water resources management.