The overarching strategic goal of the MTSRF is to increase the
sustainability of management and use of North Queensland's
environmental assets through funding and delivery of 'solution
science'. This fits well with the Australian Government's
stated objective of working towards environmentally sustainable
communities and industries, despite the challenges of climate
change. Some of the improvements in sustainability that have
already been achieved through the RRRC and MTSRF are documented
here.
Development of the latest and most
up-to-date climate change projections for North
Queensland: Understanding how climatic variables
such as rainfall and temperature will change in the future is
critical to managing the impacts of climate change on the
environments, industries and communities of North Queensland.
MTSRF-funded researchers from the CSIRO have developed models that
show annual temperature for the Wet Tropics rainforests is
projected to increase
between 0.5 and 1.4°C by 2030, dry seasons will be drier and
wet seasons will be slightly wetter. The projected
increase in severity of cyclones and the increase in sea level
means that storm surges similar to the one that inundated many
coastal areas of North Queensland on 12 January 2009 will become
more regular events. This information was provided by the
RRRC in
a submission to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Climate
Change; it has been used by the Queensland Climate Change Centre
for Excellence in preparing its regional North Queensland
assessments; was included in a
recent film made by the UN University about the impacts of
climate change on Indigenous communities, and has been included in
numerous RRRC delivery documents and presentations. The Great
Barrier Reef Tourism Climate Change Action Strategy 2009/2012 cites
the results of several MTSRF-funded research projects, and
individual tourism businesses (e.g. Skyrail) are beginning to take
these projections into account when making long-term plans for
infrastructure replacement.
Best practice guidelines for
road infrastructure in rainforest habitats:
Guidelines developed by MTSRF-funded researchers based at James
Cook University for road development within sensitive ecosystems
are being used by the Queensland Department of Main Roads and
environmental consultants working in the Wet Tropics.
Comprising two volumes - a succinct guidelines document with
illustrations, currently under review, and a
science background document on rainforest ecology in the region
- the guidelines are providing advice to agencies about
infrastructure design and developments in the Wet Tropics region,
for example during the planning process for the widening of the
Kuranda Range road, north of Cairns. Current end users of
this research include the Department of Main Roads, Ergon Energy
and the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the
Arts. The Wet Tropics Management Authority has demonstrated
its ongoing interest in the project by providing some additional
funding to extend the study of the effectiveness of faunal 'canopy
bridges', and the
expertise of the team of researchers was recently called upon
by authorities in southeast Queensland seeking options to decrease
wildlife mortality on Compton Road in Brisbane.
Calculating carbon sequestration rates
for revegetated rainforest faster and more easily:
MTSRF-funded researchers from
Griffith University have developed a rapid assessment protocol
that enables non-experts to etimate the quantity of carbon fixed in
monoculture timber plantations, mixed species timber plantations
and ecological restoration plantings. Applications of this
method in the Wet Tropics shows that replanted rainforest in
northeast Australia can accumulate relatively high amounts of
above-ground biomass - and hence carbon - within one to two decades
of establishment, compared to monoculture plantations, and that
rapid assessment protocols can be used to obtain reasonable
estimates of above-ground biomass for carbon accounting
purposes. This method, which has been specifically designed
to be compatible with the Australian Government's National
Carbon Accounting System, is currently undergoing international
peer review.
Contributing to studies of the economic
impact of coral bleaching: Both the RRRC and the
MTSRF were acknowledged in the Great Barrier Reef Foundation's
study,
Valuing the effects of Great Barrier Reef Bleaching,
released in August 2009. The study by Oxford Economics relied
heavily on MTSRF data and scientific support to inform detailed
modelling of tourism recreational benefits attributable to a
healthy unbleached reef. The conclusions of this study - that
the loss of the Great Barrier Reef through climate change-induced
bleaching would cost the Australian economy some $37 billion -
attracted considerable media attention and debate throughout
Queensland and internationally.
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Impacts of the MTSRF
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Protecting and enhancing Australia's culture and
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