Day 2 - Tuesday 27 October - Site Visit
0800-????
Technical Site Visits: From
Ridge to Reef
Conference participants are offered both
marine and watershed management options for the field trips, and these
will showcase integrated water and other natural resource management
issues; the consequences of climatic variability & change, as well
as local innovations and best practices aimed at addressing those
issues and consequences, including public-private partnerships. The
participants will hear presentations from and be guided by leading
Australian scientists and natural resource managers, working in the
various ecosystems visited. Participants will be asked to do a short
exercise on integrated natural resource management.
Option #1: Catchment to Coast
(maximum 50 participants)
Location: Wet Tropics World Heritage Area
The itinerary will include (subject to
detailed planning / refinement):
• Bus from hotels to the SkyRail rainforest canopy
cable-way.
• SkyRail ride over Wet Tropics World Heritage rainforest to
top of ridge – viewing rainforest and catchment management
issues.
• Briefing by Wet Tropics Management Authority and indigenous
natural resource manager.
• Bus down to coast – viewing catchment management initiatives
enroute (scientific guides/interpreters on bus).
• Tours of best-practice sugar-cane farm on coastal
low-land.
• Lunch.
• Tour of coastal wetland rehabilitation project.
• Tour of Cleaner Seas Alliance waste water treatment plant
upgrade (example of public-private partnership).
• Bus back to hotels.
The Catchment to Coast field trip is sponsored and organized by:
• Terrain NRM
with additional support from:
• Wet Tropics
Management Authority
• Cleaner Seas
Alliance
[Click here to register for
this site visit #1]
Option #2: Great Barrier Reef (max
230 participants)
Location: Port Douglas (by bus) and then theGreat Barrier Reef (by
boat)
The Great Barrier Reef trip will showcase
integrated coastal and marine resource management issues and
initiatives and public-private partnerships in the Great Barrier Reef
World Heritage Area, and will include a practical demonstration of the
CoralWatch coral bleaching monitoring method by Project AWARE, which
delegates who snorkel or SCUBA dive can choose to participate in
directly (click here
for details of CoralWatch activity).
The itinerary will include (subject to detailed planning /
refinement):
• Bus from hotels to vessel departure point at Port Douglas,
viewing Wet Tropics World Heritage coastal management issues.
• Vessel trip to Great Barrier Reef including interpretive
talks by biologists / resource managers on coral island and reef
management issues.
• Arrival at Reef – demonstration of CoralWatch monitoring
method for coral bleaching (delegates who snorkel or dive can undertake
practical in-water exercise). (Brochure on this
activity)
• General snorkelling and semi-submersible coral viewing
vessels for those who do not swim / snorkel.
• SCUBA diving for qualified divers (extra cost –
individuals to pay)
• Lunch
• Return to Port Douglas
• Bus back to hotels
The Great Barrier Reef trip is sponsored by:
• Reef and Rainforest
Research Centre
• Sinclair Knight
Merz
• Quicksilver
Cruises
• Project
AWARE
[Click here to register for
this site visit #2]
Option #3: Rainforest Research Trip
(max 40 participants)
The Rainforest Research trip will showcase state of the art tropical
rainforest research and management initiatives in the Wet Tropics World
Heritage Area near Cape Tribulation, in the world famous Daintree
National Park. This will include the Rainforest Canopy Crane
operated by James Cook University (JCU), surface- and groundwater
monitoring sites, indigenous involvement in rainforest research and
management and an award-winning education and interpretive centre with
suspended rainforest board-walk.
The itinerary will include (subject to detailed planning /
refinement):
• Bus from hotels to Cape Tribulation within the Daintree
National Park, viewing Wet Tropics World Heritage coastal management
issues along the way.
• Visit to Rainforest Discovery Centre with suspended
rainforest board-walk.
• Visit to the JCU Rainforest Canopy Crane and briefings from
JCU scientists and indigenous resource managers on research projects
and management issues.
• Visit to rainforest surface water and groundwater research
and monitoring sites.
• Lunch
• Return to Cairns
The Rainforest Research trip is sponsored and organized by:
• James Cook
University
[Click here to register for
this site visit #3]
Technical Site Visit Logical
Framework
Objectives
• To observe regional real-life examples of the effects of climate
variability and change on water systems
Outcome
• GEF IW projects advance application of ecosystem-based management to
integrate participatory natural resource systems management (e.g.
improved stakeholder engagement to integrate freshwater and marine,
land and water, and mainstreaming climate variability &
change).
