Facing the challenges of tomorrow

Scenario planning opens the way for consideration of strategies for dealing with a potentially uncomfortable future. It has been used in a variety of levels by business and government to ask the "what if" questions, and to manage change in an uncertain world. Scenario planning processes sees participants making assumptions about the shape of the world in years to come and, based on those assumptions to identify, analyse and develop appropriate responses.

During March and April 2008, the Department of Regional Development, Primary Industry, Fisheries and Resources hosted a series of workshops to road test scenario planning as tool for natural resource and agribusiness development in the Top End.

RDPIFR, working with a Steering Committee comprising Charles Darwin University, the Department of Natural Resources, Environment and the Arts, the Natural Resource Management Board, World Wildlife Fund and the NT Horticulture Association, hosted a series of scenario planning workshops to:

• Describe possible futures for natural resource management and agribusiness planning in the Top End.
• Identify knowledge gaps to focus research, based on plausible and well thought through futures.
• Develop champions for future scenario planning processes either within agencies or industry sectors

To set the scene, the first step in the process was a public forum – Scenarios for a Different Future. This workshop was very successful with approximately 60 people from varying backgrounds attending. It provided an introduction to scenario planning, as well as background, contextual information, resources and expert speakers to stimulate thought. See the links below to access hard copies and video footage of the presentations by the guest speakers - Rolf Gerritsen, Mark Howden, Kate Delaney, Steven Cork, Cate Turner and Kristen Alford.

[View Presentations]

The public forum was followed by two facilitated workshops that culminated in 25 'world planners' developing four different scenarios of how land might be used in the NT by 2050. These 'worlds' were presented in a second public forum – Scenarios for a different future: the way we see it.

The report from this activity, which includes a information about the scenario planning process that was used, and a full description of the 'worlds' that were developed, can be downloaded here.