There are many actions that can be taken to reduce pressures on coastal ecosystems.

Work is already underway on regional-scale natural resource planning which is identifying priority areas for protecting, re-establishing, restoring and rehabilitating coastal ecosystems and habitat corridors.

Other steps that would improve the health of coastal ecosystems include:

• removing physical barriers to improve connections between coastal and marine habitats 
• providing or returning natural flows to rivers and streams that enter the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
• reinstating connections between coastal ecosystems through rehabilitation of riparian areas around lakes, rivers and streams, building fishways and removing aquatic weeds and pests.

Through our work on the strategic assessment of the World Heritage Area, and engagement with Australian and Queensland government agencies and local councils, we aim to identify if these actions are enough to halt and reverse the decline in the health and resilience of coastal ecosystems