Climate incident response actions

A Reef Health Incident Response System is in place to help the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) detect any reef health incidents such as coral bleaching events or disease outbreaks. It also provides important information to guide management actions following incidents.

These incidents, predicted to be more frequent as the climate changes, can severely affect the Great Barrier Reef and the industries that rely on it.

The Reef Health Incident Response System is based on four main areas:

Early Warning System – tools to understand the risk of reef health incidents occurring
Incident Response – evaluate the nature and severity of incidents and coordinate an appropriate response
Management Actions – target implementing management strategies that minimise impacts and promote recovery
Communication – communicate to partner agencies, senior decision makers, stakeholders and the public about reef condition and pending management actions (communication is a central theme which unifies the other three Reef Health Incident Response System components).

This figure shows how the Reef Health Incident Response System is implemented. The early warning system which is a routine task performed each year and is conducted to better understand the potential risk of reef health incidents occurring. In the event of an incident, the Incident Response component is activated to evaluate the nature and severity of incidents and coordinate an appropriate response. This is then followed by the Management Actions component which targets the implementation of management strategies that minimise impacts and promote recovery. Communications is an ongoing component. Its aim is to communicate to partner agencies, senior decision makers, stakeholders and public about reef condition and pending management actions. Communication is a central theme which unifies the other three RHIS components.

It includes mechanisms to help the GBRMPA and its partners predict and forecast the likelihood of an event, including its potential severity and spatial extent.

There are also individual plans that specifically address common reef health incidents:

These plans describe strategic approaches to responding to reef health incidents and provide managers with a dynamic and up-to-date understanding of the vulnerability of Reef habitats and users.

The Reef is increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of climatic events, including simultaneous events and the long-term cumulative effect of such events.