Climate change adaptation strategies to support Australia's estuarine and coastal marine ecosystems

Scientists from James Cook University, CSIRO and Griffith University collaborated to develop a process for planning Climate Change Adaptation actions to support the resilience and productivity of Australia's estuarine and coastal marine ecosystems into the future. This 3 year project involved extensive review of Climate Change Adaptation strategies from across the world and evaluated their usefulness under Australian conditions through reviewing case studies, through interviews with workers from all levels of science and management from across Australia, and by reviewing modelling tools and using advanced qualitative modelling. The project was developed in response to the threats to the fisheries values, biodiversity and ecosystem functions posed by Climate Change on Australia’s estuarine and coastal marine ecosystems that are already heavily impacted by changes in land and water use. This was undertaken in the recognition that large-scale strategy thinking was necessary for a country with a great diversity of estuary and coastal marine ecosystems, plant and animal assemblages, climates, and region-specific threats and matters of contention. The project developed a set of general principles to help direct estuarine and coastal adaptation strategies whatever the particular situation – to help guide, but not constrain, the development of informed adaptation policies, plans and actions

Climate change adaptation strategies to support Australia's estuarine and coastal marine ecosystems

Scientists from James Cook University, CSIRO and Griffith University collaborated to develop a process for planning Climate Change Adaptation actions to support the resilience and productivity of Australia's estuarine and coastal marine ecosystems into the future. This 3 year project involved extensive review of Climate Change Adaptation strategies from across the world and evaluated their usefulness under Australian conditions through reviewing case studies, through interviews with workers from all levels of science and management from across Australia, and by reviewing modelling tools and using advanced qualitative modelling. The project was developed in response to the threats to the fisheries values, biodiversity and ecosystem functions posed by Climate Change on Australia’s estuarine and coastal marine ecosystems that are already heavily impacted by changes in land and water use. This was undertaken in the recognition that large-scale strategy thinking was necessary for a country with a great diversity of estuary and coastal marine ecosystems, plant and animal assemblages, climates, and region-specific threats and matters of contention. The project developed a set of general principles to help direct estuarine and coastal adaptation strategies whatever the particular situation – to help guide, but not constrain, the development of informed adaptation policies, plans and actions

Governance mapping: a framework for assessing the adaptive capacity of marine resource governance to environmental change

Marine social-ecological systems are influenced by the way humans interact with their environment, and external forces, which change and re-shape the environment. In many regions, exploitation of marine resources and climate change are two of the primary drivers shifting the abundance and distribution of marine living resources, with negative effects on marine-dependent communities. Governance systems determine ‘who’ makes decisions, ‘what’ are their powers and responsibilities, and ‘how’ they are exercised. Understanding the connections between the actors comprising governance systems and influences between governance and the environment is therefore critical to support successful transitions to novel forms of governance required to deal with environmental changes. The paper provides an analytical framework with a practical example from Vanuatu, for mapping and assessment of the governance system providing for management of coral reef fish resources. The framework enables a rapid analysis of governance systems to identify factors that can encourage, or hinder, the adaptation of communities to changes in abundance or availability of marine resources

A conceptual model to improve links between science, policy and practice in coastal management

The literature has identified significant barriers to sustainable management of coastal resources due to lack of integration between science, policy and practice. The social and biophysical sciences are an important information source but are often neglected in policy and practice. The literature has identified the science, policy practice gaps as significant barriers to sustainable management of coastal resources. However, there is lack of research specifically covering the interactions between the three domains. This paper aims to: a) review the literature to identify gaps and related factors or themes contributing to the science-policy-practice disconnect; and b) propose a conceptual integrated model to address those gaps and to increase the uptake of science into policy and practice in coastal systems. The results confirm that there are gaps in the two way-links between science and policy and practice. Most research (64%) is published in the science to policy area, 32% in the policy and practice area, and only four % of the research is published in the science-policy-practice area. Effective integration is inhibited by issues of knowledge, uncertainty, communication, political and cultural issues and institutions or rules and a clear mechanism for linking science, policy and practice is needed. Frameworks may help alleviate the problem but may not be holistic or flexible enough to facilitate interactions across science-policy-practice. There needs to be a clear mechanism for integrating science, policy and practice. To address this a conceptual model of the interactions between science and policy and practice is proposed. The model includes two-way connections between science-policy-practice, mediated by both internal and external factors including key drivers, facilitators, inhibitors and barriers. The model is applied to three case studies, namely: implementing international level blue carbon policy at a local level; an historical perspective on mangrove damage and restoration at an Australian state level; and an Australian example of long-term interactions between science, policy and practice, illustrating how multiple connections and interactions can occur as projects proceed

Organizational drivers that strengthen adaptive capacity in the coastal zone of Australia

Governance has long been identified as a crucial part of solving environmental problems. Effective governance supports and encourages adaptive capacity to maintain or improve the conditions of socio-ecological systems. As coastal zones are among the most vulnerable systems to climate change impacts (e.g. sea-level rise), the adaptive capacity of coastal communities to climate change threats will be critical. Human populations will respond both directly and indirectly to these threats and impacts; for instance by adapting resource use and practices (e.g. changing fish targets). In this paper, we apply definitions of resilience, adaptive capacity and vulnerability to the coastal zone socio-ecological system. We focus on organizations and management aspects of governance in coastal Australia. Our approach combines a literature review that highlights key organizational drivers that supports adaptive capacity with interview data from senior resource managers from organizations from across Australia to test the validity of such drivers. The key drivers related to organizational and management issues that are required to build and strengthen the adaptive capacity of Australian coastal communities are: (a) Leadership; (b) Clear responsibilities and flexible organizational framework; (c) Effective integration of knowledge and insights; (d) Learning approach to natural resource management; and (e) Human capacity and coordinated participation in decision-making. Our study showed that natural resource management organizations are clearly concerned about future changes and uncertainties and recognize the need for cooperation and good organizational drivers. However, integration of knowledge and long-term planning to deal with predicted changes in climate is largely lacking; and mismatches between management, organizational and ecosystem boundaries and processes also exist.Support for this research was provided by CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship and Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (Project No 2011/040)

Learning from cross-border arrangements to support climate change adaptation in Australia

This paper focuses on learning from existing cross-border governance arrangements with a view to strengthening and improving climate change adaptation within the Australian context. Using an institutional learning framework, the research offers a critical analysis of two Australian cross-border cases: (1) the Murray-Darling Basin, and (2) the Australian Alps. The research findings focus on the issues of geographic (place), administrative (space) and political (territory) fragmentation as key concepts that underpin integrated environmental planning and management in practice. There are significant implications for climate change adaptation in evolving cross-border regions at scale that this paper highlights

Principles for operationalizing climate change adaptation strategies to support the resilience of estuarine and coastal ecosystems: An Australian perspective

Effective publicly developed adaptation strategies are crucial in managing the impacts of Climate Change. Adaptation strategy development is particularly complex in estuarine and coastal marine ecosystems because of their diverse environmental values, extensive human utilisation and the complex socio-ecological systems they support. Although many generic adaptation frameworks are available they cannot provide specific guidance for locally relevant strategy development. In contrast, situation-specific tools work well for their intended purpose but are usually unsuitable for a different situation. The gap between generic frameworks and situation-specific tools is addressed in this study by developing a set of general principles to provide guidance for the efficient and robust development of adaptation strategies. The nine principles comprise a conceptualisation of the various factors that are likely to have an effect on the success or otherwise of an adaptation strategy and they apply in any situation. An example ‘adaptation checklist’ that serves as a guide to practitioners in the field, will help ensure that all critical components are covered during the development of an adaptation strategy

Learning from cross-border mechanisms to support climate change adaptation in Australia: final report

The impacts of climate change do not adhere to conventional governance boundaries. Floods for example do not stop at the state border, nor are storm surges contained within local government jurisdictions. Whilst this may appear self-evident, this 'inconvenient institutional truth' poses considerable challenges to existing and deeply embedded governance frameworks. Despite growing recognition that implementing effective adaptation initiatives will require transcending artificially imposed bureaucratic and/or administrative boundaries, the cross-boundary implications of climate change adaptation have been largely ignored within the Australian context (partly as a result of the historical context and nature of Australian federalism). There are significant implications for the evolving national role in climate change adaptation, and the relationship to cross-border state issues that this project identifies and highlights. This project focuses on learning from existing cross-border regulatory mechanisms with a view to strengthening and improving cross-border climate change adaptation practices in Australia

A collaborative approach to integrate science into traditional management of coral reefs in Navakavu, Fiji

Coral reefs are critical for securing food resources and generating income in Fiji. However, reef ecosystems and the people they support are currently at risk from multiple threats, such as poor land-use practices, overfishing, pollution, destruction of habitats for development, and adverse climate change effects. Understanding how socio-ecological reef systems (SES) function and respond to threats is critical. This paper describes a community-led approach that links science and traditional practices to support management decisions in Navakavu, a SES located 15km west of Suva (capital of Fiji). The approach involves (a) understanding links between reefs and people, (b) measuring sedimentation/pollution on the reefs, (c) understanding governance structures to effectively support decisions, and (d) using design-thinking to communicate research findings in a way that is meaningful to local communities and their leaders. Preliminary results indicate healthy corals but overfished reefs (despite improvements since the establishment of no-take area > 10 years ago), with low sedimentation rates during survey period (04/2016-06/2017), and plastic in sediments, water column and fish guts. Interestingly, pipefish (Corythoichthys intestinalis) abundance is relatively high as well as the proportion of pregnant to non-pregnant males, indicating the area is potentially a breeding/nursery ground. Seagrasses have substantially expanded in the last 10 years probably due to nutrient enrichment. These results were presented at community workshops where villagers could steer the research program, identify community needs, discuss and co-design management actions and communication material. Our approach has supported management by providing reef information which helped reprioritise actions such as the need to stop poaching and to manage garbage disposal. Also, there was a revival of women’s groups–as part of the traditional governance structure. The women initiated action to manage plastic waste by producing crafts through upcycling and sewing techniques workshopped as part of the project. Research results were also used to request more frequent council garbage collection and initiated internal discussions about establishing a local reef-tourism venture. By linking science and traditional practices, our approach helps build socio-ecological resilience by reinforcing local identities and fitting conservation measures into everyday life and activities that have been used in Fiji for generations