How the Australian Great Barrier Reef Succeeds at Preservation and Sust

How the Australian Great Barrier Reef Succeeds at Preservation and Sustainable Use and How it Applies to a Worldwide Problem Coral bleaching is a somewhat recent phenomenon that has prompted many communities and countries around the world to enact policies and legislation that deal with their dying coral reefs. In early 1998, a mass coral bleaching event took place on the Australian Great Barrier Reef, and broad scale aerial surveys confirmed that most of the inland reefs had experienced at least some bleaching (Lally 1999). The following analysis of the Great Barrier Reef will illustrate that a successful policy process must incorporate the people who live, work, and depend on the fragile environment into the decision-making about preservation policies, regardless of the method or policy tool chosen to do so. Effective management and policy tools must also carefully weigh both extractive and non-extractive uses - to not only preserve, but also sustain, the use of the coral reef ecosystem. First, I will give some background information about why the Australian Reef is of importance and why dying reefs are a worldwide problem. I will then further explain the scientific background of what coral reefs are, what coral bleaching is, and the human activities and other factors that cause it. Second, I will further explain the issues involved with the policy process of preserving coral reefs, and which is the priority that stands above the rest. Third, I will explain who the actors are and what their roles are in the policy process. Fourth, I will define the instruments that are used to guide the policy process. Lastly, I will explain the lessons, outcomes and alternatives that exist in the policy process of preserving coral reef... ...wan, R., N. Knowlton, A. Baker and J. Jara, "Landscape ecology of algal symbionts creates variation in episodes of coral bleaching," Nature, Vol. 388, No. 6639, p. 265-269, July 1997. Warner, M.E., "The Effects of Light and Elevated Temperature on the Photosynthetic Physiology of Symbiotic Dinoflagellates: Potential Pathways To Coral Bleaching," Dissertation Abstracts International Part B: Science and Engineering, Vol. 59, No. 10, p. 5213, April 1999. Warner, M.E., W.K. Fitt and G.W. Schmidt, "Damage to photosystem II in symbiotic dinoflagellates: A determinant of coral bleaching," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 96, No. 14, p. 8007-8012, July 6, 1999. White, M. "Sensitive Marine Environments and the Regulation of Shipping: The Great Barrier Reef Experience," Asia Pacific Journal of Environmental Law, Vol. 4, No. 3, 1999, p. 219-242.