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Natural ecosystems hold great place within the hearts and lives of people, particularly those within which people live and work. However, whether people equally value natural ecosystems that they regularly frequent is effectively unknown. Such knowledge would greatly assist natural resource managers to better understand what they are protecting, why and for whom. In this paper we look at the different values that people hold for different ecosystems within the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). We test the relationship between eight different cultural values (using ecosystem services framing), and the use of seven different ecosystems (beaches, creeks and estuaries, islands and cays, inshore reefs, mid-shelf and outer reefs, open water, and shipwrecks) from face-to-face surveys of 1934 residents living within the GBR. We also look at whether the relationships that people have with each ecosystem inspires them to; (i) do more to help protect the GBR, (ii) learn more about the GBR, and (iii) feel personally affected if the health of the GBR declines. Results suggest that there are common reasons why all ecosystems are valued. All seven ecosystems were valued because they provide identity, quality of life and well-being, and inspired people to do more to help protect the GBR. Many were valued for their desirable and active way of life, learning about the environment through scientific discoveries, and learning about the condition of the GBR. However, some ecosystems were valued for special reasons. People that used beaches tended to have more pride in the World Heritage Area status of the GBR and appreciated the aesthetics of the GBR. People that used the mid-shelf and open-water areas were more likely to value biodiversity and aesthetics qualities. People that used inshore reefs were more likely to value economic benefits from the GBR. All residents said that they would be personally affected if the health of the GBR declined, except for those that used beaches, creeks and estuaries. Levels of concern for each of the ecosystems within the GBR varied, where people were more concerned about inshore areas than they were about coral reef condition. Specifically, people were most concerned about the level of rubbish on the beaches in their region and least about mangroves. These results suggest that, even though the GBR is valued in its entirety for many reasons, the GBR is not perceived as an entire ecosystem, but that people have different relationships within it. We discuss how environmental sustainability might be optimised through understanding and incentivising the multi-functionality of landscapes. • The GBR contains many sub-ecosystems, which are valued by people to different extents. • People value all sub-ecosystems for identity, lifestyle and well-being, and for specific reasons. • People are more concerned about rubbish on beaches than coral reef condition. • All sub-ecosystems can inspire people to better protect them. • These results can help managers understand what they are protecting, why and for whom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The decline in health of the Great Barrier Reef and the pressure on allocating funds efficiently has increased efforts to prioritise where public funds are invested. The Fitzroy basin and coastal catchments is 152,000 square kilometres and geographically diverse. Past work has identified that sediment loads leaving the catchment are posing a high risk to the ongoing health of the Reef and that there is a need to prioritise funds to achieve cost effective outcomes. In this paper we aim to present an alternative approach to effective prioritisation of sediment reductions. The approach integrates spatial information regarding the sediment source and process, levels of adoption, bare ground cover, and cost into a function to rank neighbourhood catchments. The results demonstrate the complexity of the issue and the challenge the Fitzroy Basin Association faces when allocating funds. They also illustrate that there are effective opportunities in particular priority areas within the catchment in which on-ground actions could be undertaken, proving it to be a useful approach in prioritising future investments aimed at achieving cost effective sediment reductions to the Reef. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The state and trend of the Great Barrier Reef's (GBR's) ecological health remains problematic, influencing United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) statements regarding GBR governance. While UNESCO's concerns triggered separate strategic assessments by the Australian and Queensland governments, there has been no independent and integrated review of the key risks within the overall system of governance influencing GBR outcomes. As a case study of international significance, this paper applies Governance Systems Analysis (GSA), a novel analytical framework that identifies the governance themes, domains and subdomains most likely to influence environmental and socio-economic outcomes in complex natural systems. This GBR-focussed application of GSA identifies governance subdomains that present high, medium, or low risk of failure to produce positive outcomes for the Reef. This enabled us to determine that three “whole of system” governance problems could undermine GBR outcomes. First, we stress the integrative importance of the Long Term Sustainability Plan (LTSP) Subdomain. Sponsored by the Australian and Queensland governments, this subdomain concerns the primary institutional arrangements for coordinated GBR planning and delivery, but due to its recent emergence, it faces several internal governance challenges. Second, we find a major risk of implementation failure in the achievement of GBR water quality actions due to a lack of system-wide focus on building strong and stable delivery systems at catchment scale. Finally, we conclude that the LTSP Subdomain currently has too limited a mandate/capacity to influence several high-risk subdomains that have not been, but must be more strongly aligned with Reef management (e.g. the Greenhouse Gas Emission Management Subdomain ). Our analysis enables exploration of governance system reforms needed to address environmental trends in the GBR and reflects on the potential application of GSA in other complex land and sea-scapes across the globe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrating people's values and perceptions into planning is essential for the successful management of natural resources. However, successful implementation of natural resources management decisions on the ground is a complex task, which requires a comprehensive understanding of a system's social and ecological linkages. This paper investigates the relationship between sense of place and people's attitudes towards their natural environment. Sense of place contributes towards shaping peoples'' beliefs, values and commitments. Here, we set out to explore how these theoretical contributions can be operationalized for natural resources management planning in the Great Barrier Reef region of Australia. We hypothesise that the region's diverse range of natural resources, conservation values and management pressures might be reflected in people's attachment to place. To tests this proposition, variables capturing socio-demographics, personal wellbeing and a potential for sense of place were collected via mail-out survey of 372 residents of the region, and tested for relationships using multivariate regression and redundancy orientation analyses. Results indicate that place of residence within the region, involvement in community activities, country of birth and the length of time respondents lived in the region are important determinants of the values assigned to factors related to the natural environment. This type of information is readily available from National Census and thus could be incorporated into the planning of community engagement strategies early in the natural resources management planning process. A better understanding of the characteristics that allow sense of place meanings to develop can facilitate a better understanding of people's perceptions towards environmental and biodiversity issues. We suggest that the insights gained from this study can benefit environmental decision making and planning in the Great Barrier Reef region; and that sense of place is a concept worthy of further investigation elsewhere. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]