Linking Catchment Environmental Planning to On-Ground Investment: the SCaRPA DSS

The Site and Catchment Resource Planning and Assessment (SCaRPA) decision support system (DSS) has been developed for use by Catchment Management Authorities (CMA) in New South Wales, Australia to assist with catchment planning and environmental investment decision-making. The catchment planning module can be used to set targets for environmental outcomes and broad priorities for investment, using multi-criteria assessment and prioritisation tools, scenario building functions and environmental assessment models. Outputs from catchment planning can then be used to set the criteria for environmental incentives funding programs in the site-scale module, and the targeting of investment to key areas. Site-scale models are run to evaluate landholder proposals to undertake environmental works, and the results ranked by benefit-cost ratio to maximise environmental return on investment. When coupled with a well-planned monitoring and evaluation program, the SCaRPA DSS can contribute significantly to an adaptive management framework, in which site-scale investment decisions are informed by a catchment plan, which in turn is informed by progress towards management outcomes and resource condition targets through time via investment in environmental works. This paper describes the SCaRPA DSS and its intended use.