Management Responses

A healthy Reef supporting fish. Source: Andrew Chin

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) is working with the Australian Greenhouse Office on a $2 million Climate Change Response Programme.

The vision of the Climate Change Response team is to increase knowledge about the implications of climate change for the Great Barrier Reef social and ecological systems, and to develop and support strategies to minimise impacts through improving and maintaining resilience.

Objectives

The objectives of the programme are to:

• Understand climate change implications for the Great Barrier Reef
• Share knowledge about climate change impacts and response options
• Encourage and support reductions in greenhouse gas emissions
• Maximise the resilience of the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem
• Encourage and support Great Barrier Reef communities and industries to adapt to climate change.

Strategies

GBRMPA divers monitoring the reef

• Collaborate in projects that identify factors that confer resilience to reefs and develop indicators to measure resilience of reefs. This will lead to actions that can be employed to maintain and restore resilience of reefs
• Work with coastal communities and reef-based industries to identify and support strategies to mitigate climate change and its effects. Strategies that increase the capacity of these groups to adapt to unavoidable climate changes are also being developed
• Implement the Coral Bleaching Response Plan to monitor and assess the severity and extent of coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef each summer. This information allows ongoing improvement of systems for monitoring and predicting conditions conducive to coral bleaching and understanding ecological responses to elevated sea temperature
• Clearly communicate the impacts of climate change on the Great Barrier Reef and the industries and communities that depend on the reef. A comprehensive communication strategy has been developed that includes tools to reach communities, industries and policy makers.