for reducing sediment , nutrient , herbicide and pesticide losses from sugarcane areas . The top 33 bids from 32 landholders were funded . The allocative efficiency of the Tender was assessed by Rolfe et al . ( 2011b ). Greiner ( 2015 ) 8 provides an ex-post evaluation of the 2008 Lower Burdekin Water Quality Tender .
Key findings : �
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The program established a high level of persistence of investment with all but one of the funded works and all machines and other implements being operational seven years after the tender . This means that the benefits to water quality continue to accrue beyond the 5-year period , which was considered in the assessment metric used to rate and rank proposals to the tender .
The tender achieved additionality and crowding-in effects , which improved the efficiency of the investment . In particular , the research provided evidence that the tender :
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Incentivised the participation of many farmers who had not previously done anything about water quality or participated in any NRM programs ;
Effected learning about the impacts of agriculture on water quality — irrespective of success of proposals — and thereby generated intrinsic motivation for many tender participants to be wanting to do more about improving water quality ;
Sparked a series of subsequent investments into water quality improvements , many of which were entirely funded by the farmers while others were undertaken with the assistance of other NRM funding programs ; and
Triggered and / or facilitated farming-systems change to more environmentally benign practices in some instances . The tender did , however , fail to achieve its anticipated effectiveness ( total pollution abated ) because some major projects which had been approved for funding did not proceed . While this resulted in cost savings , it also resulted in forgone water quality improvements . The principal reason for this was cost underestimation during proposal preparation .
The research illustrated that the tender ’ s focus on information , education and one-on-one engagement with Tender participants in the preparation of proposals generated high levels of participant satisfaction . However , the same level of transparency and communication was not maintained after project selection , which resulted in some level of frustration and possibly diminished potential additionality and crowding-in effects .
Recommendations about the process : �
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Provide technical advice for bid development and maximise accuracy and realism of technical and costing assumptions .
Maximise transparency of process and communication of funding decisions , in both positive and negative funding outcomes .
� Engage with industry at a grass-roots level in the design of new policies and programs . �
Review the appropriate use of approved funding , and help proponents overcome difficulties with implementation and problems with functionality .
Preliminary results of NESP Project 2.3.1 : Harnessing the science of social marketing and behaviour change for improved water quality in the GBR : an action research project 9
Farr et al . ( 2017 ) is an interim report for NESP Project 2.3.1 , describing the approach and preliminary results to a survey of 54 sugarcane growers in the Burdekin region . The preliminary analysis captures only people in the Burdekin region who were already engaged in programs including those that related to water quality improvement as well as other programs in the Burdekin region .
Summary :
8 http :// nesptropical . edu . au / wp-content / uploads / 2016 / 01 / NESP-TWQ-1.5-FINAL-REPORT . pdf
9 http :// nesptropical . edu . au / index . php / round-2-projects / project-2-1-3 /
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