“Taking action for the Reef?”–Australians do not connect Reef conservation with individual climate‐related actions

Abstract

Climate change is the most significant threat to the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). While Australians express appreciation and concern for the GBR, it is not clear whether they connect climate-related action with reef conservation. An online survey of 4,285 Australians asked ".. . what types of actions could people like you do that would be helpful for the GBR?" Only 4.1% mentioned a specific action related to mitigating climate change; another 3.8% mentioned climate change but no specific action. The most common responses related to reducing plastic pollution (25.6%). These findings demonstrate that most Australians have poor capacity to identify individual climate-related actions as helpful for reef protection, and that generic calls to action-such as "protect the reef"-are unlikely to elicit climate-related actions. As such, reef conservation initiatives must explicitly promote actions-in the home and in society-that reduce emissions and support the transition to a low carbon society.

Communicating about Energy Policy in a Resource-Rich Jurisdiction during the Climate Crisis: Lessons from the People of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

“…High-profile risk events that impact climate icons, such as the coral bleaching that has occurred on the GBR, can elicit wide-ranging responses that amplify the climate change issue, particularly among the many international and Australian tourists who visit the reef [28]. Though there are a number of threats to the GBR and to other coral reefs around the world [29], the greatest threat to the GBR is climate change [30]. However, few participants described climate change as a threat to the GBR.…”

Relationships between hope, optimism, and conservation engagement

“…Despite the importance of climate mitigation, individuals may not link reef conservation to climate‐related actions (Dean et al., 2021) or know what types of behaviors contribute to emissions reduction (Whitmarsh et al., 2011). In contrast, plastic pollution is commonly emphasized in marine conservation initiatives, especially those that seek broader engagement with the general public (Stafford & Jones, 2019).…”

“…Responses were coded by 2 reviewers and cross‐checked. Additional coding details and findings from this question are presented elsewhere (Dean et al., 2021). Participants who described at least 1 climate‐related response (with or without other types of action) were classified as identifying climate actions.…”

“…Almost one-third of the samples were unable to identify any action (n = 1298 of 4285 [30.3%]). See Dean et al (2021) for details of responses to this openended question. Responses that described public-sphere actions with no mention of a specific threat (e.g., "sign a petition," n = 987) could not be classified as climate, plastic, or lower order responses and were excluded from subsequent analyses.…”

The evolution of ocean literacy: A new framework for the United Nations Ocean Decade and beyond

“…Participation in behaviour that involves direct changes between buying/ purchasing choices may be more common within populations (Barreiro-Gen et al, 2019). This may contrast with engagement with public-sphere actions which involve more active involvement and seek to influence public policy, through petitioning governments, donating to advocacy organisations, or participating in activism (e.g., voting for political parties who support marine issues and donating to ocean conservation charities; Dean et al, 2020;Hofman et al, 2020;Barreiro-Gen et al, 2019). However, given the scale of the challenges facing the global ocean, the focus of individual action as the solution is waning, with growing emphasis on calls for systemic behaviour change (Leakey, 2022).…”