Gooch, Margaret, Marshall, Nadine, Dale, Allan, and Vella, Karen (2018) Final Report: Trialling an assessment and monitoring program for the human dimensions of the Reef 2050 Integrated Monitoring and Reporting Program. Report. Reef and Rainforest Research Centre, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

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Abstract

The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is recognised as one of Australia’s and the worlds’ great natural treasures. It also provides many social, cultural, institutional and economic benefits that contribute to human wellbeing. In turn, each person’s relationship with the GBR is also influenced by a range of social, cultural, institutional and economic factors. Understanding these interactions is critical if we are to manage the GBR in a way that not only protects its natural values, but preserves and enhances its social values and the communities that have a relationship with it. These interactions (of the GBR and of people on the GBR) should inform the design of GBR-related governance and management systems at different scales. At the whole of GBR scale, managers need to understand wider societal interests in the GBR and socio-economic trends that influence whole of GBR outcomes. As a more local level example, managers are interested in how many people directly use or visit particular sites within the GBR; who these people are, where they go, what they do and why. The GBR’s human dimensions also have regional, GBR-wide, national and international aspects.

National Environmental Science Program (NESP) Tropical Water Quality (TWQ) Hub Project 3.2.2 provides a methodology for assessing and monitoring the GBR’s human dimensions as a key mechanism to support governance and management of the GBR. It uses a conceptual framework to identify appropriate sets of indicators for characterising the desired state of the GBR’s human dimensions at the whole-of-GBR and regional scales. Some 25 indicator attributes that describe people’s relationship with the GBR can be grouped into five key attribute clusters. These include: (i) human aspirations, capacities and stewardship associated with the GBR; (ii) community vitality related to GBR outcomes; (iii) economic values related to GBR outcomes; (iv) culture and heritage related to the GBR; and (v) the health of governance systems affecting GBR outcomes. The framework is presented in full in Table 1 which also highlights major data gaps needed to inform this approach. Ongoing collection (regular and funded) of data related to these gaps is needed to fulfil the Reef 2050 Plan reporting of the GBR’s human dimensions.

By populating the framework with available evidence (mostly secondary data sets) and regional discussions, we were able to demonstrate that all of the six natural resource management (NRM) regions within the GBR catchment scored moderately to well against all human dimension clusters, with conditions tending to decline with distance away from Brisbane for all clusters. Through the application of this framework, the project has already highlighted several significant and emerging implications for the Reef 2050 Plan review including:

1) The Australian and Queensland governments need to continue building partnerships with agricultural, tourism, fishing and recreational user communities and progress effective stewardship approaches.

2) Government agencies/researchers need to implement a stronger free, prior and informed consent-based approach in working with GBR Traditional Owners.

3) Government agencies and research institutions need to increase efforts to understand human use patterns across the GBR – how many people visit the GBR, where do people they go, how do they get there, why do they go.

4) Government agencies, in partnership with stakeholders, should progress system-wide approaches for continuous improvement within the wider system of governance affecting GBR outcomes. Efforts are needed to align policy and programs across a range of major policy areas that affect GBR outcomes, and significantly enhancing long term delivery systems. Improved connectivity is needed between environment, economic/regional development policy and social resilience programs of the Australian and Queensland governments and local governments. Effort needs to be better aligned across portfolios and levels of decision-making to address social and economic wellbeing and ecological health in the GBR.

5) A significant social license to operate needs to be built across the international and Australian community levels if government policies are to seek more urgent approaches to GBR protection and restoration in the face of climate change.

6) Government agencies and research institutions significantly need to increase efforts to protect historical maritime heritage in the GBR.

7) T o assist implementing the Reef 2050 Plan, the Australian and Queensland governments could more actively explore policies that increase the economic diversity and adaptive capacity of GBR-dependent regions - particularly north of Gladstone.

This NESP-funded work was undertaken with collaboration and input from a GBR-wide (RIMReP) Human Dimensions Expert Group and six Regional Discussion Panels in the GBR catchment. As a result of this work, alignment of the human dimensions framework with Reef 2050 Plan targets, objectives and outcomes has revealed several gaps in the structure and implementation of the Reef 2050 Plan. It has also identified some human dimension attributes that are under-represented or overlooked in the Reef 2050 Plan. The consultation and expert- advisory processes used, and an associated literature review, also helped to shape the human dimensions framework.

Item ID:	54994
Item Type:	Report (Report)
ISBN:	978-1-925514-16-2
Keywords:	Great Barrier Reef, Human Dimensions, Social Science, Integrated Monitoring
Copyright Information:	© The Cairns Institute, James Cook University, 2018. Creative Commons Attribution.
Funders:	National Environmental Science Program (NESP) Tropical Water Quality (TWQ) Hub, Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS)
Projects and Grants:	NESP Project 3.2.2
Date Deposited:	05 Dec 2023 01:11
FoR Codes:	12 BUILT ENVIRONMENT AND DESIGN > 1205 Urban and Regional Planning > 120504 Land Use and Environmental Planning @ 60% 05 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 0502 Environmental Science and Management > 050205 Environmental Management @ 40%
SEO Codes:	96 ENVIRONMENT > 9609 Land and Water Management > 960999 Land and Water Management of Environments not elsewhere classified @ 50% 96 ENVIRONMENT > 9607 Environmental Policy, Legislation and Standards > 960701 Coastal and Marine Management Policy @ 50%
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