Lockie, Stewart, Paxton, Gillian, Bartelet, Henry A., Draaisma, Linde, and Brooksbank, John L. (2025) Imagining outcomes of coral restoration and adaptation intervention in the Great Barrier Reef. Restoration Ecology, 33 (8). e70173.

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Abstract

Restoration initiatives are expanding globally to address climate and biodiversity threats and to help ecosystems adapt to environmental change. Research in Australia's Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is exploring novel intervention options to scale up restoration, protect corals from climate extremes, and accelerate their adaptation to heat stress. This manuscript explores the potential outcomes of such interventions as imagined by members of the GBR community. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 140 Reef Traditional Owners, stakeholders, and members of the public, it identifies six key themes—Indigenous Partnerships, Distributional Equity, Reef Outcomes, Community Engagement, Program Sustainability, and Unintended Consequences—through which participants envisaged a diversity of potential outcomes. The most frequently mentioned adverse outcomes were potential failure to achieve desired ecological outcomes and to secure ongoing funding for restoration and adaptation research and implementation. The most frequently mentioned positive outcome, meanwhile, was engaging the community in restoration and adaptation efforts, consequently increasing public support and pressure on governments to take meaningful action. The value of key themes identified in this study lies not in predicting the potential success or failure of restoration and adaptation projects but in guiding their design, implementation, and evaluation.

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