Reef 2050 Long-Term Sustainability Plan
The Reef 2050 Long-Term Sustainability Plan (Reef 2050 Plan) is the overarching Australian and Queensland government action plan to work with partners to protect and manage the Great Barrier Reef.
Launched in 2015, the plan was updated in July 2018 to include new actions to help the Reef recover and adapt in the face of a variable and changing climate.
The Queensland Government has already delivered a number of significant commitments under the Reef 2050 Plan including reducing the impacts of port development through the Sustainable Ports Development Act 2015, introducing net-free fishing zones, launching the Queensland Sustainable Fisheries Strategy and reducing the impact of vegetation clearing.
While climate change is the single, biggest threat to the Reef, there are a number of other pressures that need to be addressed to reduce the cumulative impacts on the Reef.
One of the most manageable impacts is human-induced pollutant run-off. The Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan, launched in July 2018, includes a diverse set of actions to improve water quality flowing from the catchments to the Reef.
The Reef 2050 Cumulative Impact Management and Net Benefit policies, released in July 2018, also provide guidance on the range of impacts affecting the Reef, the scale at which impacts are occurring and tools to assess and manage impacts. The Queensland Government is implementing a number of commitments to deliver these policies, outlined in the Cumulative Impact Management Policy: Queensland Government Implementation Plan.
The Reef 2050 Plan is under its first 5-yearly review in 2020, informed by scientific and technical sources including the Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report and the Reef Water Quality Report Cards. The Reef 2050 Plan is being revised to be a more strategic document focused on addressing the key threats to the Reef and adapting its management focus where necessary.
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