ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
James Cook University Townsville
Queensland 4811 Australia
Phone: 61 7 4781 4000
Email: info@coralcoe.org.au
We focus on understanding and improving complex environmental governance regimes. We draw on the disciplines of political science, public administration, geography, and sociology to explore specific national cases and transnational trends across the US, Australia, Asia, and Europe. This systematic comparative approach is generating important contributions to governance theory and practice, particularly in relation to scale, power, and institutional change. We also work closely with a range of physical, natural, and social scientists and policymakers on inter-disciplinary and applied approaches to environmental governance problems.
Our current research program centers around two main themes:
Principal theoretical contributions to this field emerge out of conducting empirical research on policy and administration in the USA, Australia, and Asia, and focus on the role of inter-agency arrangements, the use of science and stakeholders in decision-making and assessment and planning, and the role of scale in governance. Recent work has involved the development of a Regional Governance Index for assessing the institutional potential of regions. This has led to a new cross-national project analyzing the role of environmental and economic institutions and policy in shaping regional ecosystems, and further theoretical exploration of the governance of governance (‘meta-governance’).
This dimension is concerned with the feasibility of different institutional designs to respond to contemporary environmental issues, such as climate variability and unplanned coastal development. We are particularly interested in how different institutional designs deal with socio-ecological dynamics and the science-policy interface. A recent ARC Super Science Fellowship award funded the collaboration of a team of geographers, planners, economists, lawyers and ecologists on a multi-disciplinary approach to defining and solving the problems and impacts posed by sea level rise, a project which was profiled by The Australian newspaper (2 November 2011) as in the top 10 of innovative collaborative Australian research projects. Key results include papers on dealing with scientific uncertainty in policy, and on transformation of governance systems to deal with heightened risk.
Tiffany Morrison
As a political geographer (PhD, University of Queensland), I draw on the disciplines of political science, public administration, geography, and sociology to understand and improve the design of complex and multi-scalar environmental governance regimes. My approach is based on the development of an empirical database of specific national cases and transnational trends across the US, Australia, and Asia. This systematic comparative approach has generated important contributions to governance theory and practice, particularly in the area of decentralisation, regionalisation and risk. I also work closely with a range of physical, natural, and social scientists and policymakers on inter-disciplinary approaches to environmental governance problems.
Yasa Belmar, University of Queensland
Eduardo Gallo Cajiao, University of Queensland
The Achilles heel of coral growth is high temperatures, not ocean acidification, according to researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and The University of Western Austral
A new study has ingeniously reconstructed a 103-year record of the Queensland east coast Spanish Mackerel spawning fishery, and revealed that catch rates have declined by 70 per cent over the past 80
Scientists have discovered that a fish species has evolved highly specialised self-lubricating lips to help them feed from razor-sharp corals. Professor David Bellwood, from the ARC Centre of Excel
The future of the world’s coral reefs hangs in the balance, but it is not too late to save them, according to a major study published today in the prestigious journal, Nature. Scientists say tha
Abstract. Coral reefs are some of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet and are extremely important ecologically, economically, socially and scientifically. Spurs and grooves are a common feat
Abstract. Conservation problems are inherently complex with effective solutions dependent on the ability to integrate and apply diverse concepts, approaches, and tools. Here, I describe how we have us
Abstract. The finance sector has been attracting significant attention in the media lately for their support, or lack thereof, for projects that are expected to exacerbate the problem of climate chang
Abstract. In response to domination of social impact analyses by economists, a model was developed which was originally referred to as a “non-economic social impact analysis” model, or NESIA. Re
Abstract. Mass mortality of several mollusc species occurs regularly in the summer months in natural and cultured environments worldwide. Termed ‘summer mortality,’ this condition is known to im
Abstract. Shallow-water seascapes are composed of a mosaic of different habitats (e.g. coral reef, seagrass beds, mangroves, macroalgae beds). Many reef-associated fishes use multiple habitat patches
Abstract. The outstanding diversity of flora and fauna of the Indo-Australian Archipelago has captivated the interest of scientists. This region contains the most diverse coral marine ecosystems for a
Abstract. Unprecedented ocean temperatures caused by global warming are leading to mass bleaching events worldwide. Technological interventions have been hypothesised as a means of potentially mitigat
Partner Research Institutions
ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
James Cook University Townsville
Queensland 4811 Australia
Phone: 61 7 4781 4000
Email: info@coralcoe.org.au
