Impacts of the MTSRF: Carbon biosequestration
The United Nations REDD Programme (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) recognises that deforestation is a serious climate change problem worldwide, as it not only directly threatens the health of rainforest ecosystems but also reduces the rate at which carbon is biosequestered from the atmosphere. Rainforest revegetation is considered an important mitigating tool for these problems.
Australia is already a world leader in rainforest revegetation technologies, with decades of research showing that ecological restoration plantings can produce excellent rainforest ecosystem outcomes, including recovery of both animal and plant biodiversity. But what of carbon biosequestration rates?
Rapidly increasing worldwide interest in the use of rainforest revegetation projects as carbon storage or environmental offsets has stimulated researchers funded through the Australian Government’s Marine and Tropical Sciences Research Facility (MTSRF) to investigate ways to maximise returns on investment in revegetation efforts. [pdf 1.4 Mb]
Impacts of the MTSRF: Delivering science solutions
There is increasing worldwide recognition of the cost of failure to transfer new research-generated knowledge to policy and decision makers. Enhancing the sometimes poor links between science and policy should be a high priority given the Australian Government’s commitment to evidence-based policy, and the need for adaptive management to keep up with the increasing pace of environmental change. In the context of the recent reviews of the Australian Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) program and the National Innovation System, it is both timely and appropriate to consider how publicly-funded, public-good research might more reliably inform Australian public policy and practice, particularly in the environmental arena. [pdf 1.2 Mb]
Impacts of the MTSRF: Increasing sustainability for Queensland's sharks
There is increasing worldwide concern about the vulnerability of shark populations to fishing pressure, with marked declines in reef shark numbers recently reported in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef*. Although traditionally considered of low fisheries value, and hence a low priority for fisheries research, the lack of species-specific population assessments, catch per unit effort records and critical life history information for most sharks stands in stark contrast to the potential threats to their sustainability, including growing demand for shark products, as well as unknown but potentially significant mortality rates through bycatch in other fisheries.
While the removal of apex predators is likely to have consequences for marine ecosystems that are already under pressure, sustaining shark populations is not just about biodiversity conservation: recent results from research funded through the Australian Government’s Marine and Tropical Sciences Research Facility (MTSRF) suggest that healthy populations of sharks and other marine wildlife are very important in dollar terms to North Queensland’s dive tourism industry (MTSRF Project 4.8.6 Analysis of recreational and tourism use and impact on the Great Barrier Reef for managing sustainable tourism).
Generating some of the information that is needed to increase understanding about the impacts of commercial and recreational fishing on the Great Barrier Reef’s inshore shark species has been a strong focus of research conducted through MTSRF Project 4.8.4. [pdf 1.2 Mb]
Impacts of the MTSRF: Working together for the Torres Strait
The Torres Strait is a unique, and uniquely vulnerable, region of Australia. The numerous islands and their surrounding waters between Cape York and Papua New Guinea are home to a traditional Indigenous culture and complex and diverse natural environments, as well as some of the world’s largest remaining populations of dugongs and turtles. Healthy marine ecosystems are fundamental to the sustainability of Torres Strait communities. It will be important to ensure that these marine ecosystems can continue to provide food and income despite sustained use and climate change. In addition, many of the inhabited islands are low-lying, and are already occasionally inundated by high tides. While all coastal areas of Australia will be affected by sea level rise, the island communities of Torres Strait are particularly vulnerable. Can scientific research help the communities of Torres Strait to increase sustainability in their region? [pdf 1.2 Mb]
