Abstract Summary
The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is critically important to Australia’s national identity and inextricably linked to its prosperity, however the social acceptability of intervening in the management of the GBR is not clear and is potentially contested. The process of understanding stakeholder attitudes to restoration interventions in the GBR over time is a large and challenging task. Key problems include: the large scale of the GBR and its adjacent catchment; the diverse range of community, industry and broader public interests in the GBR; the complex range of engagement, advisory and deliberative structures that operate to guide policy making in the GBR; social and economic disparities within and outside the GBR and growing vulnerabilities as a result of climate change; and uncertainty about the risks and benefits of intervening in an environment prized for its natural value. This paper will outline models and methods for stakeholder engagement for long-term social monitoring and assessment of interventions for the Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program (RRAP). It will present findings from a targeted review of engagement structures in the GBR, international literature on public participation in large scale complex ecological restoration initiatives, and options for community and stakeholder engagement in the design, deployment and evaluation of reef restoration based on feedback from stakeholder interviews.
