Cumulative impacts and strategic environmental assessment: policy development for Australias Great Barrier Reef

The health and future outlook of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) World Heritage Area is under threat from the combined effects of catchment land use, marine resource use and global climate change. The strategic management of cumulative pressures is of urgent concern for the GBR. Though the GBR is generally considered to be a well-managed reef system, cumulative impact assessment has been identified as one of the weakest aspects of reef management. It is also an aspect of reef management that has received limited scholarly attention. This chapter examines government policy relating to strategic assessment and cumulative impact assessment for the GBR. It explores the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) jointly undertaken by the Queensland and Australian Governments for the GBR, which was the largest and most comprehensive SEA ever undertaken in Australia. The chapter concludes by identifying lessons that have emerged from the SEA and cumulative impact assessment experience in Australia.