Regional Waterways Health Report Cards: what are they and how do they bring about change management in Great Barrier Reef catchments? Lessons from the Wet Tropics Waterways Partnership

RGSQ Lecture Series

Regional Waterways Health Partnerships are an initiative of the Reef 2050 Long Term Sustainability Plan, with links to the Reef Water Quality Report Card and Water Quality Improvement Plan. Five partnerships operate within the wider Great Barrier Reef (GBR) region. They are a collaboration among government, industry, natural resource management, agriculture, traditional owners, research, community and other organisations – working towards a common goal of monitoring and improving waterway health entering the GBR lagoon. The annual report cards provide local communities with an independent, credible, evidence-based assessment of condition and trends in an easily understood format.

The Wet Tropics Waterways Partnership was launched in 2016, and has since delivered six report cards. Our goal is to monitor waterway health across the region and bring the community together to raise awareness, share ideas and take appropriate action to enhance our waterways. This presentation will provide a brief overview of the various GBR report cards and how they operate and link together. The remainder of the presentation will provide an overview of the Wet Tropics partnership, including some of our recent achievements in driving improved stewardship of waterways in the region.

Biography

Dr Steve Turton is a Councillor of the RGSQ and the Independent Chair of the Wet Tropics Waterways Partnership. He is based on the Sunshine Coast where he is Adjunct Professor of Environmental Geography at Central Queensland University and the University of the Sunshine Coast. From 2006-2016, he held a number of senior roles as Professor of Geography at James Cook University in Cairns, including Director of Research for the Rainforest Cooperative Research Centre. Steve is a former Councillor of the Institute of Australian Geographers and a former member of the Wet Tropics Management Authority’s Scientific Advisory Committee. He is a Past President of the Australian Council of Environmental Deans and Directors, Past-President of the Institute of Australian Geographers and Past-Chair of the National Committee for Geographical Sciences, Australian Academy of Science. In 2016, Steve was made a Distinguished Fellow of the Institute of Australian Geographers, and in 2017 was delighted to receive the RGSQ’s J.P. Thomson Medal, recognising outstanding contributions to geography over an extended period of time. He is currently an associate editor of Geographical Research.