Image courtesy of Triggerfish Images Climate Change and the Great Barrier Reef: A Vulnerability Assessment

This book provides an authoritative assessment of climate change vulnerability for the species and habitats that make up the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). The picture that emerges from the combined knowledge of 86 experts is that the GBR is exposed to a range of stressors associated with climate change, and that many components of the GBR (which includes both ecological and human dimensions) are highly sensitive to these stressors. While the GBR is likely to be more resilient to climate change than most tropical marine ecosystems around the world, it is far from immune to this pervasive threat. In fact, signs of vulnerability to climate change are already being observed in critical parts of the GBR ecosystem, such as corals and seabirds. In addition to presenting a synthesis of current and emerging knowledge, the experts who contributed to this assessment provided recommendations for ways to reduce the impacts of climate change on the GBR. These insights provide the foundations on which tropical marine ecosystem managers can build an informed and effective response to climate change. In this chapter, we begin with a synopsis of previous chapters, covering the latest knowledge on exposure, sensitivity and vulnerability of the GBR to climate change. Building on this summary, we synthesise ideas about potential management responses suggested by the contributing experts. The findings of this vulnerability assessment provide a rigorous and comprehensive basis for managemen