Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Marine Policy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/marpol An integrated monitoring framework for the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area P. Hedge a, ⁎ , F. Molloy b , H. Sweatman c , K.R. Hayes d , J.M. Dambacher d , J. Chandler b , N. Bax a,e , M. Gooch b,f , K. Anthony c , B. Elliot b a Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 129, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia b Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, PO Box 1379, Townsville, Queensland 4810, Australia c Australian Institute of Marine Science, 1526 Cape Cleveland 4810, Townsville 4810, Australia d CSIRO Computational Informatics, GPO Box 1538, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia e CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, GPO Box 1538, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia f Cairns Institute, James Cook University, PO Box 6811, Cairns, Queensland 4870, Australia ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Adaptive management Environmental monitoring Decision-making Coral reef Marine reserve ABSTRACT Monitoring provides important feedback on how social and environmental systems are tracking and whether or not human activities, including management activities, are having an impact. This paper describes an approach applied to develop an integrated monitoring framework to inform adaptive management of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, a complex, multi-jurisdictional, multi-sectoral marine system of international importance. It identifies the gaps and opportunities to integrate the existing long-term, short-term and compliance-related monitoring and reporting initiatives to provide the information for more effective and efficient (adaptive) management of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. And as importantly it aligns expectations among different agencies about how monitoring will inform management. Fifty two high priority values, processes and pressures for management were identified along with 65 existing monitoring programs. Developing the monitoring framework was useful in several ways. First it brought together scientists, policy- makers, managers, and other interested stakeholders with different agendas, philosophies and incentives and established a common purpose, lexicon and language for an integrated monitoring program. Second, it highlighted the importance and usefulness of qualitative conceptual models as a framework for focused discussion around a set of hypotheses with relevance for management. Third, the process started an important conversation about defining and setting a realistic number of monitoring priorities for management. Finally, it has provided direction for how to build on existing initiatives to develop an integrated monitoring program for a globally significant world heritage area. 1. Introduction Adaptive management is a cornerstone of modern environmental management but examples of truly adaptive management are rare [37]. The Great Barrier Reef (GBR), inscribed as a World Heritage Area in 1981, is one of the largest networks of marine reserves in the world and this, with the variety of habitats and management regimes it contains, has made it a significant demonstration of integrated, adaptive management [26]. Yet despite extensive spatial protection and adapta- tion of management to reduce threats and improve resilience, the overall outlook for the GBR, has worsened since 2009 and is expected to further deteriorate in the future under climate change [5,16]. This parlous outlook is challenging Australia's policy makers and scientists to develop a more effective approach to adaptive management for the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (GBRWHA), a complex system with multiple pressures and management responses – a scenario that is likely to impose itself on other World Heritage Areas. In an adaptive management approach, monitoring is used to update system models with data and management responses in a process of continuous improvement (e.g. [25]). Monitoring provides important feedback on how ecological, social and economic systems are changing and whether or not human activities, including management re- sponses, are having an impact. For a large and complex system such as the GBR with multiple management objectives, the question of what, where and how to monitor to support adaptive management is a challenge. Prioritising one form of monitoring over another requires http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2016.12.014 Received 23 September 2016; Received in revised form 19 December 2016; Accepted 20 December 2016 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: paul.hedge@csiro.au (P. Hedge). Marine Policy 77 (2017) 90–96 0308-597X/ © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. MARK