Program & Abstracts
Outcomes / Position Statement
The Great Barrier Reef Restoration Symposium (16-18 July 2018, Cairns) brought together 300 leading scientists, engineers, experienced practitioners, environmental managers, industry professionals, NGOs, community members and youth representatives from 14 countries for the first international conference on coral reef restoration.
Symposium Report
Help us help the reef
Like many reefs around the world, the Great Barrier Reef is suffering from the combined effects of many threats and disturbances, including mass coral bleaching, pollution, storm damage, and outbreaks of pests like Crown-of-Thorns starfish, among others.
While some of these threats are caused or exacerbated by global issues such as climate change, others may be amenable to local- or regional-scale intervention, restoration and management. Unfortunately, we currently have limited knowledge about these options and how they might be effective on the Great Barrier Reef.
This international Symposium brought together restoration practitioners, scientists, engineers, environmental managers, NGOs and industry partners to share experiences, insights and ideas about what works, what doesn’t, and what more we need to know to help the Great Barrier Reef.
Symposium participants presented and discussed methods currently being trialled elsewhere in the world, as well as novel approaches that may be still in development; from small, local-scale approaches to large-scale projects, including engineering and oceanographic interventions. Participation from a wide range of disciplines, including those not normally associated with coral reef research, was encouraged.
