7. Existing protection and management

Land-based runoff, particularly from agricultural land uses, has long been identified as a major contributor to poor ecosystem condition in the Reef.^{2,4,1098,1988} With the Reef’s combined catchments covering approximately 424,000 square kilometres, management of land-based runoff is highly complex and requires cooperation and integration among diverse management agencies. 

Management of land-based runoff requires actors at all scales, from intergovernmental bodies and national governments to individual landowners, to engage and enact programs on their lands. Effective joint management arrangements are in place between Australian and Queensland governments through the Reef 2050 Plan, including the underlying Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan 2017–2022,¹⁸²⁵ which directly addresses improving water quality to conserve Reef ecosystems. The managing agencies, industry and the community, use the Water Quality Improvement Plan to guide their collaborative efforts to improve the quality of water flowing to the Reef.

Planning systems for land-based runoff have continued to expand since 2019. These include the introduction of the strengthened Reef Protection Regulations (Qld) and setting end-of-basin load water quality objectives (Reef Water Quality Objectives) for all Reef catchments. The Reef Protection regulations were made in close consultation with key stakeholders including the agricultural sector, industrial stakeholders, local councils, conservation groups, natural resource management (NRM) bodies, individual producers and the public. The regulations require landowners to achieve minimum standards for practices on grazing land and banana and sugarcane farms to minimise fine sediment and nutrient discharges to water that flows to the Reef. The regulations were rolled out over a five-year period based on water quality priorities and to allow agricultural industry time to adapt to the new requirements. This staged approach, while necessary, means that programs are still in their infancy and efficacy is currently hard to measure. Despite an extensive consultation process there remains a degree of dissatisfaction among the agricultural sectors. This may be because efforts focused on consultation and knowledge sharing, compared with more involved engagement efforts to collaborate with and empower farmers. Additional efforts may be worthwhile.   

Despite their unpopularity,¹¹ these regulations are considered to provide a sophisticated and scientific approach to managing agricultural runoff and complement existing voluntary programs and market-based measures.¹⁹⁸⁹ The Reef Water Quality Objectives provide clear baselines for end of catchment levels of anthropogenic dissolved inorganic nitrogen and anthropogenic fine sediments for all the major natural resource management regions within the Catchment. However, these minimum standards are insufficient on their own to reach stated water quality targets.¹⁹⁹⁰

Ongoing support for implemented voluntary and market-based programs is necessary to help encourage landowners to obtain, keep and expand on best-practice management of their land. The Water Quality Improvement Plan includes a target of 90 per cent of agricultural land within priority areas in the Catchment following best management practices by 2025.^1883,1991 Key industry programs, such as Smartcane, Banana Best Management Practice and Hort 0, and GRASS, continue to operate as a key intermediary between industry and regulatory actors to support farmers in meeting the new requirements. Fine sediment and particulate nutrient targets can be met for most regions if best-practice management is fully implemented in priority areas. In contrast, the dissolved inorganic nitrogen target can only be met for most regions if there is adoption of more innovative practices.¹⁹⁹⁰ The existing levels of best-practice initiatives are not considered sufficient to reach agreed targets.¹⁹⁹⁰

Improving monitoring systems for anthropogenic runoff has been a priority since 2019. Specifically, there have been notable technological improvements, such as greater integration of the eReefs marine modelling system into decision-making.¹⁸¹⁰ Knowledge gaps remain in relation to bioavailable nutrient (primarily nitrogen and phosphorus) impacts, pathways into coastal and marine ecosystems and validation of the predicted water quality benefits from improved irrigation practices and water use efficiency. Understanding these and the way in which on-ground practices impact upon the Reef may also be less well understood by landowners,^1992,1993 although efforts to address this have progressed since 2019. Partnerships between government and industry, for example Best Management Programs and associated support tools NutriCalc™ and Nutrition EDGE courses for grazing, continue to provide education and support for farmers. Research entities have helped to increase the accessibility of information to farmers through initiatives such as the 1622-WQ app, which provides farmers with local water quality data to help see ‘the link between their practices and water quality outcomes’.^1993,1994

Monitoring of water quality outcomes are reported via the Paddock to Reef Program ¹⁹⁹⁵ and the Reef Water Quality Report Card. These report cards provide an interactive guide for managers into the state of the Reef as well as key insights into the programs that have been active in the different catchments. Trends based on outputs from these report cards up to 2020 indicate that 2025 targets are unlikely to be met based upon current improvement trajectories. There is some uncertainty in relation to how changes in regulation may be impacting on trajectories towards 2025 goals. This is primarily due to delays in data and reporting, and ongoing review of land management targets.  More broadly, Regional Report Cards produced by the five regional report card partnerships are released annually and report to local communities on condition from freshwater to marine zones.¹⁹⁹⁶

Despite significant financial investment into improving water quality in the Catchment, funding is considered insufficient to achieve the 2025 water quality targets for the Reef.¹¹ Nutrient management may be considered achievable, with an estimated cost of $390 million.¹⁹⁹⁷ However, it was estimated that up to $8.21 billion may be required to deliver sufficient reductions in sediment and dissolved inorganic nitrogen. This relates primarily to the cost of remediating sediment in the Fitzroy region, which was estimated to cost $6.46 billion alone. In 2024, contributions to achieving these objectives are less than half, indicating that financial resourcing is insufficient to meet the 2025 water quality targets.

Improvements have occurred in the management of land-based runoff along with a general reduction in pollutant loads since 2019. However, it is not expected that the 2025 water quality targets will be met. The impact of the shift from a predominantly self-governed system for industry-led best practice management to one regulated by government legislation coupled with voluntary, validated agricultural certification systems is hard to determine yet, due to its staged implementation approach. This top-down governance may lead to less than equitable relationships between groups, limiting the ability for true collaboration ^1998,1999 and, without intent, may frame the type of collaboration that takes place.^1998,2000 This has led some landholders to feel that the relationship with regulatory bodies is often punitive in nature and negatively impacts on their desire to participate. Research into how to navigate the challenges of uptake within the top-down governance approach is ongoing.^{1942,1943,1944,1945,1946,1947}

This limitation is well understood by Reef management agencies and substantial effort has been expended in projects that aim to involve the whole community in a place-based approach to deliver outcomes for Reef and community alike. As more regulatory initiatives are rolled out, it remains more important than ever to maintain and expand on these types of collaborative projects to ensure continued engagement with on the on-ground stakeholders.