The Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program (RRAP) was a partnership to help the Great Barrier Reef resist, adapt and recover from the impacts of climate change. Many of the proposed interventions being investigated by RRAP will include activities that have not previously been considered within the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.
The RRAP Regulatory Subprogram aimed to help develop a robust and enabling regulatory environment for reef restoration and adaptation, and a regulatory and policy best-practice for reef adaptation and restoration. This subprogram was delivered by the Regulatory and Policy Environment project which investigated and enhanced capacity of existing regulatory and policy frameworks for novel interventions on the Great Barrier Reef, in consideration of RRAP Research and Development and subsequent deployment of interventions.
- Identified short, medium and long-term priorities to improve Australia’s regulatory and policy capacity to address the R&D and deployment of reef interventions developed under RRAP.
- Designed guidelines and deliver training to meet the needs of regulators and RRAP researchers.
- Reviewed existing regulatory and policy approaches and tools with a focus on reef restoration and adaptation.
- Developed forward-looking, flexible and risk-based options for approaches and tools.
Publications
Nicole Shumway, Rose Foster, Pedro Fidelman. The governance of marine and coral reef restoration, lessons and paths forward for novel interventions. Environmental Science & Policy, Volume 164, 2025, 103999,
ISSN 1462-9011, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2025.103999.
Rose Foster, Nicole Shumway, Daniel Harrison, Pedro Fidelman,
Governing marine cloud brightening for ecosystem conservation under a warming climate. Earth System Governance, Volume 23, 2025, 100240,
ISSN 2589-8116, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esg.2025.100240
Further findings will be published soon.
Dr Nicole Shumway
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Policy Futures, UQ
Associate Professor Pedro Fidelman
Principal Research Fellow, Centre for Policy Futures, UQ
Dr Maxine Newlands
College of Arts, Society & Education, James Cook University
Professor Brian Head
School of Political Science and International Studies
Rose Foster
PhD Candidate, TC Beirne School of Law