Regional governance for resilient coastal agricultural systems: the case of the Burnett Mary Region, Australia

Threats to coastal agricultural systems from extreme weather events and impacts of climate change require governance systems that build capacity so as to foster system resilience in response to natural disasters. The Burnett Mary (BM) region of Queensland, a high-value agricultural system in coastal Australia, was selected for this study because of its high vulnerability to extreme weather events and projected climate change impacts, the weak adaptive capacity of the farming communities, and on-going governance challenges. Using Interactive Governance Theory (IGT) as a theoretical framework to explore collaborative governance, this research examined the natural resource governance system of the Burnett Mary region. The purpose of the study was to understand the governance challenges and opportunities, and the system requirements that might improve Natural Resource Management (NRM) and to build the adaptive capacity of regional and local stakeholders. The overall research question guiding this thesis was: How does regional governance of natural resources build resilient coastal agricultural systems in Burnett Mary Region? To explore this question in detail, three sub-research questions were asked: (1) How are natural resources governed in this coastal agricultural system?; (2) How has natural resource governance in Burnett Mary region changed as a result of episodic flooding?; (3) How can the regional natural resource governance system of Burnett Mary region adapt to and be more resilient to future extreme weather events?