How can INFFER contribute to our strategic thinking about the whole catchment?
Some users are concerned that INFFER may tend to focus attention onto particular parts a catchment, rather than the whole catchment. At least in Australia, the level of funding available in environmental and natural resource programs is not nearly sufficient to manage the issues comprehensively. Also, there is a lot of spatial heterogeneity in the problems these programs address. There is variation from place-to-place in the values of assets under threat, the severity and urgency of threats, the technical feasibility of reducing those threats, and the adoptability of the required works. So the environmental benefits from investing in works will vary widely not just between catchments, but within catchments. Thus, the usual reality is that the best use of program funds from an environmental perspective requires prioritisation of effort within a catchment. INFFER helps managers to identify what those within-catchment priorities should be. Of course there may be some situations where effo
