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Global Reef Resilience Initiative

Date: 2018

Location: Cairns, Australia

Project Team: Julia Watson + Center for Resilient Cities and Landscapes + 100 Resilient Cities + ARUP

Client: The Great Barrier Reef Foundation

The Resilient Reefs Initiative brings together resilience experts and managers from five UNESCO World Heritage-listed coral reefs: New Caledonia, Ningaloo, Palau, Belize, and the Great Barrier Reef, with a mission to address the challenges these ecosystems and their communities face.

As a Faculty Affiliate with the Center for Resilient Cities and Landscapes, Julia supported the efforts to help both communities and ecosystems respond to urbanization and climate change, by developing the first comprehensive model for resilience-based management, ensuring long-term protection and adaptation. Coral reefs, which provide food, jobs, and coastal protection for over a billion people worldwide, also sustain a quarter of all marine species. Valued at $10 trillion in ecosystem services, they hold deep cultural and spiritual significance for Traditional Owners whose histories span more than 60,000 years.

In response to climate change that is catastrophically impacting reef systems across the globe, the Great Barrier Reef Foundation launched the Resilient Reefs Initiative, a pioneering partnership that works with local reef managers and communities to develop adaptive solutions. Engaging over 3,000 reef beneficiaries and forming 10 partnerships with First Nations groups, the initiative has also introduced four Chief Resilience Officer roles in reef management. This global effort is the first to integrate resilience planning for both reefs and their communities, striving to protect and restore these vital ecosystems as climate threats intensify.

The studio acknowledges that we are sited on the traditional lands of the first people of Brooklyn, New York—the Lenape people past and present—and honor them and the land with gratitude.

Contact Us

For other inquiries, email info@juliawatson.com

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