Project 9.3 'Prioritising management actions for Great Barrier Reef islands'

Project 9.3 'Prioritising management actions for Great Barrier Reef islands'

The broad goal of this project is to work collaboratively with Commonwealth and Queensland Government agencies to develop an explicit decision making framework for investing cost-effectively in management actions across the islands of the Great Barrier Reef. More specifically, the goal is to maximise a conservation outcome, defined by specific objectives for diverse natural features (e.g. native plant and animal species, vegetation assemblages, breeding aggregations), in the face of spatially heterogeneous and dynamic threats, within a budget constraint, by applying a suite of actions that cost different amounts, and that contribute differently to objectives, under considerable uncertainty and the prospects of climate change. This problem – complex, dynamic and multifaceted – describes the reality of much conservation decision-making, and defines the problem faced by managers of the GBR’s 900 islands.

Key objectives of this project are to review literature, search databases, and liaise closely with GBR island managers and other experts to set parameters for key variables to be used in the management prioritisation, considering uncertainty; work with GBR island managers to develop a cost-effective, transparent, accountable approach to prioritising management actions for multiple objectives across GBR islands; and produce a decision-support tool with GIS interface for day-to-day use that will enable managers to identify spatially explicit and action-explicit management priorities within and between islands.

Project outputs at a glance

Generally, the project will produce a method that is explicit and world’s best-practice for identifying management priorities across areas and will improve conservation outcomes for Great Barrier Reef islands.

  • Compilation of all available data, including expert judgements, on islands in the sub-region to set parameters for key variables to be used in the management prioritization, considering uncertainty.
  • A novel, cost-effective, transparent, and accountable approach to prioritizing management actions for multiple objectives across islands in the selected sub-region, shaped and understood by GBR manager.
  • An interactive, spatially explicit decision-support tool for day-to-day use that will allow managers to identify action-specific management priorities within and between islands.

Specific objectives and intended outputs of this Project are detailed in the NERP TE Hub Multi-Year Research Plan.


Project Factsheet


 

Link to the Project 9.3 homepage on e-Atlas


 

Project Duration: 
1 Jul 2011 to 31 Dec 2014