How people and ecosystems fit together on the Great Barrier Reef

Date:
August 14, 2020
Source:
ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
Summary:
A world-first study examines the scales of management of the Great
Barrier Reef. The findings have the potential to help sustain other
ecosystems across the world. The study provides a new approach
for diagnosing social-ecological scale mismatches and responding
to them.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A world-first study examining the scales of management of the Great
Barrier Reef has the potential to help sustain other ecosystems across
the world.


========================================================================== Massive marine ecosystems like the Great Barrier Reef aren't just a
vibrant home to fish, corals and other creatures, they are also an
important source of people's food, livelihoods and recreation.

The new study suggests the way people are managed when undertaking
various activities within the marine park -- like fishing, boating, and scientific research -- could serve as an exemplary model for sustainably managing other ecosystems that humans use.

"There is plenty of evidence to suggest that the Great Barrier Reef
is managed at appropriate scales within its boundaries," said lead
author Professor Graeme Cumming, incoming Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies.

The reef served as a case study for mapping and measuring different scale matches between people and ecosystems. Prof Cumming explains the concept
of scale matches using a backyard garden as an example of an ecosystem.

"For a house with a garden, you already have permission to manage that
garden - - to mow the lawn and trim the trees inside your fences. To
look after all the parts of it. That's a scale match," Prof Cumming said.



==========================================================================
He says being able to manage only a flower bed within the garden is a
small- scale match. "If you only have permission to manage the flower
bed in your garden, you can manage the flowers, but your lawn and trees
become unkempt. The weeds and pests affecting the flowers may come from
an adjacent part of the garden, which you'd then have no control over,"
he said.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) manages the entire
marine park. Some permits, such as permission to access areas by boat
as part of a commercial operation, may cover most of the park.

GBRMPA also manages smaller scale permits within the marine park
boundaries - - small-scale matches that work best for activities like commercial tourism, lobster fisheries or the installation of certain
structures like jetties or moorings.

The study found the permits issued for human activities generally
occurred at larger scales than the particular individual marine features
of interest, such as reefs or islands.

"The finding that people are managed at a broader scale than ecological variation suggests a general principle for permitting and management,"
Prof Cumming said. "In essence, people like to have choices about where
they go and how they respond to change. This means that they prefer to
operate at a broader spatial scale than the ecological features they are interested in, rather than the same scale." The findings suggest this
approach to managing people at broader rather than finer scales may be
more effective. For small protected areas, increasing the size of the permissible area may even be critical.



========================================================================== However, GBRMPA can't manage the ecosystem's biggest impact, which lies
outside park boundaries: climate change.

"Broad scale problems, like climate change, can only be managed with
broad scale solutions, like global action," Prof Cumming said. "This is
a scale mismatch because these impacts come from well outside the marine
park boundaries." GBRMPA also don't have control over what happens on
the land directly adjacent to the reef. Not being able to stop pollutants
and pesticides in storm water reaching the reef is another scale mismatch.

Prof Cumming says comparing the results of this study to similar data from other marine parks, including those that are recognised as dysfunctional,
will help determine if the management of the Great Barrier Reef Marine
Park is unusual or typical.

"This study does not offer a direct solution for management," Prof
Cumming said. "But it provides a new approach that extends our toolbox
for diagnosing social-ecological scale mismatches and responding to them."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by ARC_Centre_of_Excellence_for_Coral_Reef_Studies. Note: Content may be
edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Graeme S. Cumming, Kirstin A. Dobbs. Quantifying Social-Ecological
Scale
Mismatches Suggests People Should Be Managed at Broader Scales
Than Ecosystems. One Earth, 2020; DOI: 10.1016/j.oneear.2020.07.007 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200814113152.htm

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