Torres Strait Island communities have their natural resource use categorized based on expert rankings of 27 ecosystem goods and services. The analysis covers 15 communities, ranking resource volume on a scale from 0 to 5 to determine four distinct community typologies. This dataset was produced by the NERP TE 11.1 project with input from the TSRA Land & Sea Management Unit.
Use Cases
- Cluster analysis of Torres Strait communities based on their natural resource base as described in the typology results.
- Comparative studies of marine versus terrestrial resource dependency using the ranked volume scores for 27 ecosystem goods and services.
- Socio-ecological modeling to assess community vulnerability to changes in specific resource categories like reef or estuarine resources.
- Policy planning for regional resource management informed by the four identified community types (Reef, Agriculture and Marine, Estuarine and marine, Mixed).
Strengths
- Data is based on expert knowledge from TSRA Land & Sea Management Unit officers with direct experience in the region.
- Analysis includes 27 distinct ecosystem goods and services, providing a multi-faceted view of resource use.
- Covers 15 specific Torres Strait communities, allowing for granular geographic comparison.
- Uses a defined ranking scale (0 to 5) for quantifying resource volume, enabling consistent measurement.
Limitations
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to data_gov_au, focusing solely on the Torres Strait region.
Provenance
- Source
- NERP TE 11.1, CSIRO, via the Australian Ocean Data Network and data_gov_au.
- Collection Method
- Expert ranking (scale 0-5) of 27 ecosystem goods and services by TSRA officers, informed by literature review and interviews.
- Freshness
- Last updated 2026-07-10 20:52:22.765915; freshness should be verified.
- Geography
- Torres Strait Protected Zone, covering 14 communities plus Hammond Island.