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Environmental Management

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04-10-2017

Avoiding Implementation Failure in Catchment Landscapes: A Case Study in Governance of the Great Barrier Reef

Authors: Allan P. Dale, Karen Vella, Margaret Gooch, Ruth Potts, Robert L. Pressey, Jon Brodie, Rachel Eberhard

Published in: Environmental Management | Issue 1/2018

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Abstract

Water quality outcomes affecting Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (GBR) are governed by multi-level and multi-party decision-making that influences forested and agricultural landscapes. With international concern about the GBR’s declining ecological health, this paper identifies and focuses on implementation failure (primarily at catchment scale) as a systemic risk within the overall GBR governance system. There has been limited integrated analysis of the full suite of governance subdomains that often envelop defined policies, programs and delivery activities that influence water quality in the GBR. We consider how the implementation of separate purpose-specific policies and programs at catchment scale operate against well-known, robust design concepts for integrated catchment governance. We find design concerns within ten important governance subdomains that operate within GBR catchments. At a whole-of-GBR scale, we find a weak policy focus on strengthening these delivery-oriented subdomains and on effort integration across these subdomains within catchments. These governance problems when combined may contribute to failure in the implementation of major national, state and local government policies focused on improving water quality in the GBR, a lesson relevant to landscapes globally.

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Title: Avoiding Implementation Failure in Catchment Landscapes: A Case Study in Governance of the Great Barrier Reef
Authors: Allan P. Dale
Karen Vella
Margaret Gooch
Ruth Potts
Robert L. Pressey
Jon Brodie
Rachel Eberhard
Publication date: 04-10-2017
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Environmental Management / Issue 1/2018
Print ISSN: 0364-152X
Electronic ISSN: 1432-1009
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-017-0932-2

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