Great Barrier Reef and climate change : laws, institutions and resilience

The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is an international and national ecological icon. It attracts millions of visitors to Australia every year. Although GBR is recognised as one of the best-managed coral reef systems in the world, climate-related events have already caused significant damage to it. To minimise the extent of damage to the Great Barrier Reef due to climate change, international, federal (Commonwealth) and state (Queensland) laws and institutions provide different tools and control mechanisms to increase the resilience of GBR. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of the existing laws, regulations, plans and institutions for the maintenance and conservation of GBR. The paper concludes with some legal and institutional guidelines to improve resilience from the impacts of climate change in GBR.