Medium-long term – Consistent investment classifications should be used for each priority area, for example:
Immediate priorities—to commence within first 18 months
Medium priorities—to commence within first 30 months
Future priorities—to commence within period of the plan.
Scale
Landscape/Catchment, Region
Wetland system
Estuarine, Marine, Other
Description and method logic
Method purpose
The Reef 2050 Plan Investment Framework[1] was developed to guide investment decisions for the delivery of Reef 2050 Plan actions.
Summary
The Investment Framework prioritises investment decisions based on the investment principles within the Reef 2050 Plan, which consider:
Key threats identified in the most recent Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report
Best available science, and the feasibility or likelihood that actions can be carried out under current conditions
Timeframes for implementation and the objectives and targets the actions will contribute to
Relationships between actions and possible groupings to deliver the best outcome
Complementary benefits these actions will deliver
How the outcomes of the prioritisation process are best integrated into implementation plans
Capacity of implementing agencies, organisations, and industries
Expected timeframes for benefits to be realised.
Using this investment framework, six priority areas were identified from the Reef 2050 Plan (2015 – 2020) for future investment: 1. Reef Water Quality Protection Plan actions 2. Field Management Program actions 3. Reef 2050 Integrated Monitoring and Reporting Program actions 4. Crown-of-thorns starfish control actions 5. Traditional Owner actions 6. Fisheries actions.
This prioritisation process is designed to be repeated as part of the Reef 2050 Plan’s five-yearly adaptive management cycle, when new Reef 2050 Plan actions are developed.
Method logic
The Investment Framework comprises three phases:
1. Establish existing investment 2. Determine investment priorities for the future 3. Identify strategies for boosting investment.
Establishing existing investment involves identifying existing direct investments for Reef 2050 Plan actions from as many sources, including all levels of government, industries, community groups and philanthropic organisations. Investment data should be allocated at an action-by-action level across the five years.
Determining future investment priorities draws on science, community, and industry advice at all stages of prioritisation. An initial prioritisation process should be undertaken that considers the full suite of Reef 2050 Plan actions. Focus should be placed on immediate priorities as they will inform or contribute to the delivery of longer-term actions.
Identifying and developing strategies to boost funding requires seeking expert advice from Traditional Owners, science, industry, community, and the financial sector to explore options and models for diversification of funding sources and discuss details on how options could be delivered. Strategies for delivering on Reef 2050 actions for each priority area should be considered across the following categories:
Revisiting traditional funding mechanisms (e.g. traditional funding mechanisms like government programs and non-government initiatives to boost funding for priority areas)
Fostering private and philanthropic partnerships (e.g. pooling resources, dollar-matching schemes, co-funding models, crowd sourcing and financial donations)
Developing conservation finance projects (e.g. developing conservation finance projects that make a financial return for investors)
Using regulatory and policy levers to direct investment (e.g. changing legislation, increasing compliance effort, introducing/reviewing/increasing levies)
Tapping into non-financial resourcing (e.g. donating access to assets, using citizen science)
Seeking co-benefits through complementary funding sources (e.g. using existing social, environmental, and economic funding programs to fund Reef 2050 actions. For example, infrastructure upgrade projects like road upgrades can be targeted at unsealed roads in Reef catchments, which would reduce sediment running into the Reef)
Investing in innovation to reduce funding needs (e.g. investing in research, developing new technologies, improving coordination).
Criteria groupings of the method
The Reef 2050 Investment framework groups actions under three criteria groupings:
Outcomes and benefits arising from implementing actions from each priority area identified in the Reef 2050 plan
Cost and capacity to deliver actions in Reef 2050 priority areas
Sequencing of the actions.
Data required
Amount of funding available for investment
Knowledge of the Reef 2050 Plan objectives and targets
Expert and stakeholder information
Knowledge of existing funding mechanisms, including complementary funding sources
Knowledge of existing regulatory and policy levers
Knowledge of existing non-financial resources
Understanding of areas that will benefit from potential innovation
Resources required
Expertise required
High-level expert knowledge, conceptual understanding of the priority areas, stakeholder engagement.
Materials required
Access to funding data, data management tools, expert knowledge.
Method outputs
Outputs
Template for prioritising investments
Detailed profiles for each priority area
Time frames for prioritising actions
Uses
Determining priorities for on-ground actions to achieve the objectives and targets of the Reef 2050
Great Barrier Reef management
Criteria by category
Economic
Cost and capacity to deliver actions in Reef 2050 priority areas
Cost of completing action (e.g. low, medium, high, unknown)
Relevant stakeholder groups with resources to support action delivery
Management and planning
Cost and capacity to deliver actions in Reef 2050 priority areas
Existing activities amongst stakeholder groups that will assist with implementing action
Information availability for informing delivery of action
Probability that action can be completed
Relevant stakeholder groups with expertise to support action delivery
Outcomes and benefits arising from implementing actions from each priority area identified in the Reef 2050 plan
Effectiveness of action in meeting targets and objectives of Reef 2050 plan
Feasibility of detecting benefit from action
Level of complementary benefits action will deliver
Spatial scale of benefit that action provides (e.g. local, regional, reef-wide)
Success of action in addressing threats identified in Reef 2050 plan
Targets and objectives of the Reef 2050 plan that action contributes to
Time frame to achieve benefit (e.g. short-, medium-, long-term)
Sequencing of the actions
Timeframe when the action will be commenced (e.g. immediate, medium-term, future priority
Review
Recommended user
State and federal governments, investors, Great Barrier Reef managers, and other natural resource managers.
Strengths
Transparent process to prioritise investments to deliver Reef 2050 actions for priority areas
Comparison of actions for priority areas
Designed for cost-effectiveness and viability
Evidence-based
Step-by-step process
Incorporates threats into actions and prioritisations
Limitations
Dependent on expert and stakeholder input
Only relevant for the six priority areas identified within the Reef 2050 plan
Robustness of results is limited by information quality
Department of Environment, Science and Innovation, Queensland (2021) Reef 2050 Plan Investment Framework, WetlandInfo website, accessed 18 March 2024. Available at: https://wetlandinfo.des.qld.gov.au/wetlands/resources/tools/assessment-search-tool/reef-2050-plan-investment-framework/
— Department of Environment, Science and Innovation