6. Factors influencing the Region’s values

Of the four main factors influencing the Region (climate change, coastal development, land-based runoff and direct use), climate change remains the greatest issue facing the Region’s heritage values. The effects of climate change on the Reef’s natural values are assessed in Sections 6.3 and 7.3.9. 

The Reef’s outstanding universal value and the connection of Traditional Owners with the natural environment are highly vulnerable to the factors influencing the Region. The identity of First Nations peoples is embedded in their Sea Country, moving beyond the physical dimensions of landscapes and seascapes; they are spiritscapes.¹¹¹⁴ Pressures exerted on the Region’s natural heritage value (ecological and biological processes and habitats assessed in Chapters 2 and 3) equally apply pressure on the Region’s Indigenous heritage value (Section 4.3). Therefore, changes in the Region’s habitats, species and ecosystem health may have far-reaching consequences on the natural and Indigenous heritage values of the Region. 

Projections of intensified ocean warming (Section 6.3.1), and population growth (Section 6.2.2) will continue to place pressure on the Region’s heritage values. Impacts of climate change threats (such as ocean acidification, altered ocean currents and sea temperature increase) on intangible heritage are likely to occur, although this remains a knowledge gap. Changes to the ecosystem due to altered weather patterns are inevitable under predicted climate change scenarios, and changes are already being observed.⁹³³ Altered weather patterns and sea-level rise are likely to accelerate impacts on tangible heritage sites through physical weathering, erosion and inundation.^1952,1953  Nutrient, sediment and terrestrial runoff may also affect tangible underwater heritage sites by altering physical and chemical processes and potentially accelerating degradation rates.¹⁹⁵⁴

The heightened level of vulnerability has seen managers embrace dynamic approaches to Reef and island interventions in the past 5 years. However, the onset and severity of some climate-induced impacts, makes planning difficult and complicates the assessment of potential benefits of some Reef interventions.¹⁹⁵⁵ The effect of interventions on Indigenous heritage values is a knowledge gap.¹⁹⁵⁶ Greater emphasis has also been placed on adaptation strategies and analysis of policy frameworks at a place-based level.^1956,1957

Contemporary publications identify that, while Indigenous heritage values continue to be vulnerable to factors influencing the Region, First Nations peoples have demonstrated a capacity to adapt to a changing climate and other external pressures for thousands of years. An emphasis on ‘old ways to new days’ will act to reduce and mitigate the risk of fragmentation of cultural knowledge and support resilience in the face of climate change.^{1958,1959,1960} For example, the Yuku-Baja-Muliku people, in collaboration with western climate change scientists, developed a process to assess the vulnerability of their Land and Sea Country near Archer Point in North Queensland to climate change using both Indigenous Knowledge and western science.⁹³³  Through the Traditional Owner-centric assessment, the observations made by the Yuku-Baja-Muliku people on Land and Sea Country could be related to climate change impacts and to how those impacts are affecting their management efforts and customary activities. 

Indigenous heritage values are vulnerable to multiple effects relating to foundational capacity gaps (Appendix 6), specifically uneven capacities and power dynamics that exist within society and Reef management.¹⁹⁵⁸ In 2019, foundational capacity gaps were included as a threat to the Region’s heritage values in the Outlook Report for the first time. Since then, additional local and international studies and partnership initiatives have drawn attention to the improvements required in the enabling context for building capacity and self-agency of First Nations people (noting the disparity in the starting point). Self-agency and an enabling environment are essential to reducing foundational capacity gaps and the fragmentation of cultural knowledge.^{1114,1961,1962,1963} Climate adaptation planning to reduce vulnerabilities and strengthen the resilience of First Nations peoples and Indigenous heritage values should involve mobilising cultural institutions, strengthening cultural practices, incorporating cultural knowledge and supporting decolonising.^1406,1960

Indigenous and historic heritage is irreplaceable; therefore, where possible, impacts should be avoided or mitigated. An inherently difficult aspect of maintaining the resilience of historic heritage values is identifying and protecting sites and monitoring their condition and integrity. Where heritage values are known (for example, lightstations), ongoing maintenance reduces the asset’s vulnerability. Historic heritage values (lightstations, shipwrecks and aircraft wrecks) continue to be vulnerable to natural degradation, severe weather events and some direct use activities.

As a multiple-use marine protected area, the Reef is a contested space. The range of users, and occurrence of incompatible uses, exert pressure simultaneously on the Region’s Indigenous and historic heritage values at varying spatial and temporal extents. Implementation of co-management principles will help balance multiple objectives of different use in an environmentally sustainable way.^1181,1962 Indigenous heritage values remain vulnerable to illegal fishing and extraction of culturally significant species, but the scale of this issue is unknown. 

Behaviours impacting heritage values occur at a site-specific scale. Direct use activities, such as tourism, recreation and fishing, can have adverse impacts on heritage values,¹⁹⁶⁴ especially in areas that are heavily visited or where heritage values are not well known or understood. High visitation or poor behaviours that affect the ecosystem values may affect heritage sites. Intangible heritage values can be disturbed or damaged by: an inappropriate presence of people at sensitive cultural sites; access by people of culturally inappropriate gender or seniority; and, high levels of visitor traffic or disrespectful behaviour at heritage sites. At a regional scale, knowledge gaps exist around the likelihood and geographic spread of impacts from direct use activities on certain heritage values, and the vulnerability of the Reef’s heritage values to high levels of visitation is poorly understood. Commercialisation and commodification of intangible cultural heritage can affect Indigenous heritage values,¹⁹⁶⁵ but cultural tourism led by Indigenous people, who hold the appropriate cultural authority and knowledge, can minimise this threat.¹⁹⁶⁴

Some culturally important species (such as marine turtles and dugongs) remain under pressure. Specifically, inshore and intertidal feeding and nursery habitats (such as seagrass meadows and beaches) are exposed to increased disturbances where coastal habitats are modified. Damage to the seafloor, such as through coastal development (dredging of ports and marinas) or fishing (trawling and anchoring), may cause irreversible damage or loss of Indigenous and historic heritage values. 

Foundational capacity gaps have emerged as an increasing vulnerability, particularly for Indigenous heritage. Overall, tangible and intangible Indigenous heritage values and historic heritage values remain vulnerable to the changing climate and its associated impacts.