scholarly journals Modelling reductions of soil erosion and pesticide loads from grain cropping due to improved management practices in the Great Barrier Reef catchments

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Great Barrier Reef ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Barrier Reef

scholarly journals Modelling Hydrological Processes and Identifying Soil Erosion Sources in a Tropical Catchment of the Great Barrier Reef Using SWAT

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 2179
Author(s):  
Vahid Rafiei ◽  
Afshin Ghahramani ◽  
Duc-Anh An-Vo ◽  
Shahbaz Mushtaq
Keyword(s):  
Sediment Transport ◽  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Water Balance ◽  
Great Barrier Reef ◽  
Hydrological Processes ◽  
Barrier Reef ◽  
Water Balance Components ◽  
Study Region ◽  
Erosion Hotspots ◽  
The Impact

Study region: North Johnstone catchment, located in the north east of Australia. The catchment has wet tropical climate conditions and is one of the major sediment contributors to the Great Barrier Reef. Study focus: The purpose of this paper was to identify soil erosion hotspots through simulating hydrological processes, soil erosion and sediment transport using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). In particular, we focused on predictive uncertainty in the model evaluations and presentations—a major knowledge gap for hydrology and soil erosion modelling in the context of Great Barrier Reef catchments. We carried out calibration and validation along with uncertainty analysis for streamflow and sediment at catchment and sub-catchment scales and investigated details of water balance components, the impact of slope steepness and spatio-temporal variations on soil erosion. The model performance in simulating actual evapotranspiration was compared with those of the Australian Landscape Water Balance (AWRA-L) model to increase our confidence in simulating water balance components. New hydrological insights for the region: The spatial locations of soil erosion hotspots were identified and their responses to different climatic conditions were quantified. Furthermore, a set of land use scenarios were designed to evaluate the effect of reforestation on sediment transport. We anticipate that protecting high steep slopes areas, which cover a relatively small proportion of the catchment (4–9%), can annually reduce 15–26% sediment loads to the Great Barrier Reef.

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.

scholarly journals Can extension programs improve grazing management in rangelands: a case study in Australia

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 447
Author(s):  
John Rolfe ◽  
Megan Star ◽  
Adam Curcio
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Beef Cattle ◽  
Great Barrier Reef ◽  
Financial Incentives ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Sediment Runoff ◽  
Barrier Reef ◽  
Extension Programs ◽  
Management Change

A key challenge in reducing sediment moving from grazing lands into the Great Barrier Reef in Australia is to encourage beef cattle producers to improve management practices. Excessive grazing pressures cause land degradation, leading to both increased sediment runoff and lower future profits. Although higher grazing rates may be possible (and profitable) in better seasons, slow rates of adjustment to poorer seasons can lead to overgrazing and negative impacts on land condition. For policymakers the challenge is to find mechanisms that encourage or signal producers to be more precise in their management and avoid overstocking. Some of the most common options include extension programs, grant programs that use financial incentives, and regulation. In this paper we outline a conceptual framework that shows why extension may be a more powerful driver of management change than incentive programs, and then test this through an evaluation of a case study program conducted with beef cattle producers in catchments of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. The pathway involving landholders to implement management change was through improved efficiency and productivity, as these are the issues that drive ongoing participation in broader environmental programs. The results present multiple lines of evidence to infer positive outcomes of an extension program in terms of changed management practices, which may be expected to generate improved productivity and better water quality outcomes. These can be grouped into three key areas. First, outcomes show positive improvement relative to the Grazing Water Quality Risk framework for the Great Barrier Reef catchments, which is designed to assess the links between land management and water quality. This indicates that resource condition is likely to improve and sediment emissions should be reduced over time. A second outcome is increased landholder engagement and improved understanding of their business and engagement in future programs, which should underpin ongoing adoption. A third outcome is improved management of risk and developing the skills to do this through data collection and monitoring, which should improve management responses in drought years.

scholarly journals Far North Queensland

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brigitta Flick ◽  
Nerina Caltabiano ◽  
Joan Bentrupperbaumer
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Forest Management ◽  
Great Barrier Reef ◽  
Human Impact ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Postal Survey ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Barrier Reef ◽  
Far North ◽  
Reef Lagoon

Landowners (100 males and 21 females) within the catchment of the Great Barrier Reef Lagoon located between the Barron and the South Johnstone Rivers responded to a postal survey assessing attitudes towards their streamside forests. 121 useable questionnaires were used to identify the underlying components within landowner's attitudes. Factor analysis revealed two components, namely, awareness of human impact on local streamside forest, and appreciation of environmental benefits and functions of streamside forest. Only factor 2, appreciation of environment benefits and functions of streamside forest, was found to significantly predict good streamside forest management practices as self-reported by landowners. There is a need to understand the human impact on streamside zones.

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