6. Factors influencing the Region’s values

Since European settlement, use of the Region has changed and intensified. The Region is no longer a pristine ecosystem and it exists in a dynamic state. The dynamic state involves interactions with people and how they use the Region’s natural heritage values and connect with Indigenous heritage values. 

Direct use contributes to the wellbeing of regional communities through direct and indirect benefits that can feed back into how residents interact with the environment. Fishing and pollution-related threats are perceived as the second and third major threats to the Reef, respectively.¹⁰⁷⁵  Tourism, shipping, mining and coastal development were less commonly perceived as major threats.

For Reef-dependent uses, the condition of the ecosystem remains fundamental to the longevity of their various industries, economic prosperity and social wellbeing. The direct economic cost of climate change and ecosystem disturbance on Reef-dependent communities has not been fully quantified and remains a knowledge gap.

Non-Reef-dependent uses of defence activities, ports and shipping, which are not directly connected to the Region’s natural values, are affected by external factors. The economic significance of ports and shipping is largely driven by global and domestic demand for resources and commodities. However, as an interconnected system, changes to the climate that affect the health and usability of the Region are likely to affect the suitability of the Reef as a transit corridor for ships.