Supporting community action and investing in healthier waterways

Stewardship starts in our own backyard. For the Queensland Government, their backyard includes the iconic Great Barrier Reef, which stretches more than 2,300km along its coastline. 

The Great Barrier Reef is a natural wonder that's bigger than New Zealand and covers an area the size of about 70 million football fields!

But this dynamic system faces many challenges. While climate change is a major threat, water quality is the most manageable, because it starts locally, in our own backyard.

The water flowing to the Reef carries runoff from gardens, homes, workplaces, and where we play. This runoff can contain pollutants, like sediments, nutrients, pesticides, and litter, which can all harm mangroves, corals, seagrasses and aquatic life.

The Queensland Government knows that improving water quality is key to the Reef’s future. That’s why they lead vital water quality programs to reduce pollutants and preserve this global treasure.

The Great Barrier Reef is expansive, spanning more than 2,300kms along the Queensland coastline. Photo: Katarina Katopis | Ocean Image Bank

Collective impact across catchments

Continued community engagement and action is vital to supporting the health of estuarine and marine environments across the Great Barrier Reef catchment.

The Queensland Government, through the Queensland Reef Water Quality Program (QRWQP), is a key partner in this work, providing funding for five Regional Report Card Partnerships including Townsville’s Healthy Waters Partnership for the Dry Tropics.

Each catchment along the Great Barrier Reef faces unique challenges. The Regional Report Card Partnerships through their networks, identify and work together on solutions that directly address their area’s needs, helping to inform management and empowering communities to support waterway health in their region.

The QRWQP is managed through the Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI). Rachel D’Arcy, Manager, DETSI highlights the importance of the Partnerships and shares what motivates the team.

“The Partnerships, and the regional Report Cards they produce, have proven to be a vital source of information and credible science about the health of local waterways and the Great Barrier Reef,” Rachel said.

“The breadth and diversity of partners, who represent government, industry (including ports), research organisations, the agricultural sector, Traditional Owners, conservation groups and the community, and who come together to pool their data and knowledge, is what brings strength to the Partnerships.

“It’s this strong collaboration and sense of a shared vision to improve the health of our waterways through monitoring and reporting that keeps us motivated.”

The Healthy Waters Partnership at their recent strategic workshop, demonstrating the diversity of Partners representing all levels of government, industry, research, education and community.

Sound science supporting policy and management

The Report Cards are backed by an extensive Technical Report that pools the most reliable and comprehensive data available. Before being freely published for the public, two groups of Australia’s leading scientists review the data and methods to ensure sound science.

These scientific groups are also involved in other government initiatives. The Queensland Government works in partnership with communities, across industries and sectors to make Reef policy and management decisions based on sound science.

One of the key sources of this science is the 2022 Scientific Consensus Statement, released in 2024 as the most comprehensive and rigorous review of the effects of land-based activities on Great Barrier Reef water quality and ecosystem condition.  

Conceptual diagram for the values, condition and drivers of the health of the Great Barrier Reef. Prepared by C2O Consulting and Hodge Environmental for the 2022 Scientific Consensus Statement.

The Statement involved more than 200 experts from Australia and overseas. The outputs are based on evidence from over 4,000 publications.

Based on the evidence, 35 scientific experts agreed on eight overarching conclusions, including:

• Poor water quality, particularly elevated levels of fine sediments, nutrients and pesticides, continues to have detrimental impacts on Great Barrier Reef ecosystems. The greatest impacts are on freshwater, estuarine, coastal and inshore marine ecosystems.

• Historical and continuing land management and catchment modification impair Great Barrier Reef water quality through extensive vegetation degradation, changed hydrology, increased erosion, and expansion of fertilised land uses, urban centres and coastal developments.

• Human-induced climate change is the primary threat to the Great Barrier Reef and poor water quality can exacerbate climate-related impacts. Good water quality is critical for healthy and resilient ecosystems and supports recovery from disturbances such as mass bleaching and extreme weather events. Meeting water quality improvement targets within the next ten years is imperative.

The Statement, led by C2O Consulting and funded by the Australian and Queensland governments, including its detailed conclusions, is available at www.reefwqconsensus.com.au

Read more about the Queensland Government’s $289.6 million Queensland Reef Water Quality Program.