scholarly journals Welfare gains from urbanizing landscapes in Great Barrier Reef catchments? A spatial environmental-economic modelling approach

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. C. Roebeling ◽  
C. S. Fletcher ◽  
D. W. Hilbert ◽  
J. Udo
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Economic ◽  
Great Barrier Reef ◽  
Economic Modelling ◽  
Barrier Reef ◽  
Welfare Gains ◽  
Modelling Approach

scholarly journals Cost-effective water quality improvement in linked terrestrial and marine ecosystems: a spatial environmental - economic modelling approach

2009 ◽  
Vol 60 (11) ◽  
pp. 1150 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. C. Roebeling ◽  
M. E. van Grieken ◽  
A. J. Webster ◽  
J. Biggs ◽  
P. Thorburn
Keyword(s):  
Water Pollution ◽  
Water Quality ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Environmental Economic ◽  
Management Practice ◽  
Economic Modelling ◽  
Agricultural Industry ◽  
Water Quality Improvement ◽  
Land Use And Management ◽  
Modelling Approach

Worldwide, coastal and marine ecosystems are affected by water pollution originating from coastal river catchments, even though ecosystems such as the Great Barrier Reef are vital from an environmental as well as an economic perspective. Improved management of coastal catchment resources is needed to remediate this serious and growing problem through, e.g. agricultural land use and management practice change. This may, however, be very costly and, consequently, there is a need to explore how water quality improvement can be achieved at least cost. In the present paper, we develop an environmental–economic modelling approach that integrates an agricultural production system simulation model and a catchment water quality model into a spatial environmental–economic land-use model to explore patterns of land use and management practice that most cost-effectively achieve specified water quality targets and, in turn, estimate corresponding water pollution abatement cost functions. In a case study of sediment and nutrient water pollution by the sugarcane and grazing industries in the Tully–Murray catchment (Queensland, Australia), it is shown that considerable improvements in water quality can be obtained at no additional cost, or even benefit, to the agricultural industry, whereas larger water quality improvements come at a significant cost to the agricultural industry.

Improved grazing management practices in the catchments of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia: does climate variability influence their adoption by landholders?

2015 ◽  
Vol 37 (5) ◽  
pp. 507 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan Star ◽  
John Rolfe ◽  
Peter Long ◽  
Giselle Whish ◽  
Peter Donaghy
Keyword(s):  
Great Barrier Reef ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Grazing Management ◽  
Expected Returns ◽  
Economic Modelling ◽  
Barrier Reef ◽  
Financial Returns ◽  
Risk And Uncertainty ◽  
Agricultural Producers ◽  
Climate Cycle

The declining health of the Great Barrier Reef from diffuse source pollutants has resulted in substantial policy attention on increasing the adoption of improved management practices by agricultural producers. Although economic modelling indicates that many improved management practices are financially rewarding, landholders with dated management practices remain hesitant to change. This research involved bio-economic modelling to understand the variance in private returns for grazing enterprises across a climate cycle. Results show that financial returns to landholders can vary substantially across different 20-year periods of a climate cycle, demonstrating that the variability in expected returns may be an important reason why landholders are cautious about changing their management practices. Although previous research has separately identified financial returns and attitudes to risk and uncertainty of landholders as key influences on decisions concerning adoption of improved management practices, this research demonstrates that it is the interaction between these factors that is important to understand when designing policy settings.

Management of Water Quality in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park

1989 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 31-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Woodley
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Coral Reef ◽  
Great Barrier Reef ◽  
Barrier Reef ◽  
Management Issue ◽  
Reef System ◽  
Marine Park ◽  
World Heritage List ◽  
The World ◽  
Coral Reef System

The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef system in the world. It is recognised and appreciated worldwide as a unique environment and for this reason has been inscribed on the World Heritage List. The Reef is economically-important to Queensland and Australia, supporting substantial tourism and fishing industries. Management of the Great Barrier Reef to ensure conservation of its natural qualities in perpetuity is achieved through the establishment of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. The maintenance of water quality to protect the reef and the industries which depend on it is becoming an increasingly important management issue requiring better knowledge and possibly new standards of treatment and discharge.

Circulation and water mass characteristics of the southern Great Barrier Reef

1994 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
JH Middleton ◽  
P Coutis ◽  
DA Griffin ◽  
A Macks ◽  
A McTaggart ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Great Barrier Reef ◽  
Heat Loss ◽  
Barrier Reef ◽  
Low Oxygen ◽  
Geostrophic Balance ◽  
Shelf Slope ◽  
High Nutrient ◽  
Slope Currents ◽  
North And South ◽  
Upper Slope

Data acquired during a winter (May) cruise of the RV Franklin to the southern Great Barrier Reef indicate that the dynamics of the shelf/slope region are governed by the tides, the poleward-flowing East Australian Current (EAC), and the complex topography. Over the Marion Plateau in water deeper than - 100 m, the EAC appears to drive a slow clockwise circulation. Tides appear to be primarily responsible for shelf/slope currents in the upper layers, with evidence of nutrient uplift from the upper slope to the outer shelf proper in the Capricorn Channel. Elsewhere, the bottom Ekrnan flux of the strongly poleward-flowing EAC enhances the sloping isotherms associated with the longshore geostrophic balance, pumping nutrient-rich waters from depth to the upper continental slope. Generally, shelf waters are cooler than oceanic waters as a consequence of surface heat loss by radiation. A combination of heat loss and evaporation from waters flowing in the shallows of the Great Sandy Strait appears to result in denser 'winter mangrove waters' exporting low-oxygen, high-nutrient waters onto the shelf both north and south of Fraser Island; these subsequently mix with shelf waters and finally flow offshore at - 100 m depth, just above the salinity-maximum layer, causing anomalous nutrient values in the region of Fraser Island.

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