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SCIENCE, SOLUTIONS AND THE FUTURE:
THE GREAT BARRIER REEF IN A TIME OF CHANGE
A SUMMARY OF THE FINAL SYNTHESIS STAKEHOLDER REPORT
QUEENSLAND PREMIER’S FELLOWSHIP
Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg | The Global Change Institute | The University of Queensland
The Queensland Government
established the Premier’s
Fellowships to further build
“leadership capacity within
Queensland’s research
community and to position
Queensland at the forefront
of cutting edge research,
development and innovation”.
The principle objective of
the program was to entice
experienced scientists of national
and international prominence
to lead Queensland-based
research teams.
Science, Solutions and the
Future was designed to fill
knowledge gaps relating to
climate change and its potential
long-term impacts on the Great
Barrier Reef. With access to
more comprehensive scientific
knowledge, reef managers and
decision-makers are now better
placed to develop strategies and
policies to support reef resilience
under a changing climate.
ABOUT THE FELLOW
Drawn to the ocean as a child, Professor
Ove Hoegh-Guldberg studied marine
science at the University of Sydney
and later at the University of California,
Los Angeles. He has spent more than
20 years improving the understanding
of marine ecosystems, particularly the
impact of environmental change.
Together with students and colleagues
from the Coral Reef Ecosystems
Laboratory at The University of
Queensland (UQ), Professor HoeghGuldberg has studied the impacts of
ocean warming and acidification on
marine ecosystems. His contributions
have led to him being awarded the
Eureka Prize for Scientific Research
in 1999 and an Australian Research
Council (ARC) Laureate Fellowship in
2013. He was elected a Fellow of the
Australian Academy of Science in 2013
and has been the Deputy Director of
the Queensland-based ARC Centre of
Excellence in Coral Reef Studies since
2005. Professor Hoegh-Guldberg has
served in several international roles
including as Chair of the Blue Ribbon
Panel of the Global Partnership for
Oceans and Coordinating Lead Author
on the Fifth Assessment Report of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (Chapter 30: The Ocean).
Through the support of the Premier’s
Fellowship, Professor Hoegh-Guldberg
has pursued innovative solutions,
collaborated widely and communicated
discoveries to global audiences made.
In addition, he developed the concept
of, and created UQ’s Global Change
Institute (GCI). The Institute opened its
doors in 2010 and is firmly focused on
a ‘solutions’ agenda with respect to the
challenges of environmental change. GCI
focuses on the key research areas of
ocean health, clean energy technology,
sustainable water and food systems.
AUSTRALIAN PROJECT
SPONSORS AND
COLLABORATORS
The Fellowship was a collaborative
venture that aimed to connect state,
national and international research with
management teams and resources,
to ensure a sustainable future for
Queensland through science-based
solutions to climate change on the
Great Barrier Reef.
HOST INSTITUTION
The University of Queensland
www.uq.edu.au
CO-SPONSORS
The Queensland Government
www.qld.gov.au/dsitia
Great Barrier Reef Foundation
www.barrierreef.org
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
www.gbrmpa.gov.au
COLLABORATORS
ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral
Reef Studies
www.coralcoe.org.au
World Bank-Global Environment
Facility Coral Reef Targeted
Research and Capacity Building for
Management Project
www.gefcoral.org
Australian Institute of Marine Science
www.aims.gov.au
Great Barrier Reef Ocean Observing
System Project
http://data.aims.gov.au/gbroos/
There were also a number of national
and international partners including
the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, and the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration.
MANAGEMENT MATTERS
The Great Barrier Reef is under increasing pressure from
a range of human and environmental impacts, including
climate change. Therefore scientific knowledge is critical to
provide evidence of the health and resilience of the Great
Barrier Reef ecosystem in order to manage its increasing
and competing uses.
Knowledge, understanding and solutions generated
through science can help reef managers, policy makers
and decision-makers protect the Great Barrier Reef in a
time of great change. You can’t manage what you don’t
understand.
HOW WILL THE SCIENCE IN THE PREMIER’S FELLOWSHIP RESEARCH PROGRAM HELP WITH REEF MANAGEMENT?
The short answer is: in lots of ways. For example:
• Innovative and cutting-edge research
carried out at kilometre scales across
the Great Barrier Reef provides insights
and a baseline of contemporary
changes in reef health, which are
critical in managing reef resilience
and use.
• Science provides administrators
with the tools and understanding
necessary to manage the multitude
of issues impacting the Great Barrier
Reef Marine Park. This, in turn,
gives managers the confidence and
credibility to administer key resources
necessary for the reef’s survival.
• Extensive monitoring of coral reefs
by the Catlin Seaview Survey team
is establishing new technologies in
order to build a baseline reference
database to improve understanding
of how the reef is changing.
Information is made available
through the free-access database
the Global Reef Record (http://
globalreefrecord.org/home_scientific).
The importance of the database
can already be seen: recent surveys
have compared existing information
to rapidly establish how cyclones
and bleaching events are affecting
specific reef areas.
• Fundamental science is crucial
to mitigating the impacts of
environmental change and provides
critical information to adaptively
GLOBAL CHANGE INSTITUTE
manage the Great Barrier Reef.
Meaningful measurements allow
for notions of future environmental
change to be tested in real time and
on-reef with the results being made
available to reef managers.
• New satellite tools are giving
managers greater information about
changes in environmental conditions
(e.g. temperature, sediments) and
risks to the reef. This high-level
information is helping develop early
warning systems and is informing
management of emerging issues
associated with the reef’s health.
• This program has advanced
understanding of the biology and
oceanography of the Great Barrier
Reef region, which is critical to
meeting conservation objectives.
Such information provides reef
managers with an evidence-base
upon which to make decisions
concerning the reef’s likely future
state and management.
• By exploring key aspects of the
biochemistry and physiology of host
symbiont interactions, the Fellowship
deepened understanding of stress
factors, thereby helping managers
improve policy initiatives. Further,
invaluable insights into the causes
of coral bleaching will be critical for
attempting to understand and
manage the impacts of climate
change on the reef.
• The research has an important
role in informing the planning and
mitigation measures for the future
impacts of climate change on the
Great Barrier Reef. It is also vital to
the development of other science
that leads to the production of
management tools including satellite
algorithms for predicting bleaching
mortality and recovery.
• The mesophotic (30-200 m) zone
of the reef is almost completely
unstudied yet contains an equal, if
not greater, biodiversity than the more
shallow sections of the reef. The
research used innovative technology
to show that the upper mesophotic
zone (30–60 m) appears to hold
the greatest potential to aid in reef
recovery following disturbance. This
discovery can now be factored into
future management plans regarding
Great Barrier Reef recovery and
resilience.
• Research and discovery from the
Premier’s Fellowship will provide
reef managers, policy makers and
decision-makers with the science
required to reach informed, evidencebased management decisions
regarding the future sustainability of
the Great Barrier Reef – in a time of
great change.
The University of Queensland St Lucia QLD 4072 Australia T +61 7 3443 3100 E [email protected] W www.gci.uq.edu.au