An analysis of trade-offs between multiple ecosystem services and stakeholders linked to land use and water quality management in the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

The Great Barrier Reef (GBR), Australia, is threatened by declining water quality largely derived from agricultural run-off. Water quality planning aims to mitigate pollutant run-off through land management, including riparian and wetland restoration, but no tools exist to assess trade-offs in land use change across the catchment-to-reef continuum. We adapted the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment framework in the GBR's Tully–Murray catchment to identify trade-offs between linked ecosystem services and stakeholders. Applying four land use scenarios we assessed outcomes for the ecosystem service of water quality regulation, and trade-offs with six floodplain services and four GBR services. Based on statistical correlations between ecosystem services’ status under the scenarios, we identified trade-offs and thresholds between services and associated stakeholders. The most direct trade-off in floodplain services (and primary stakeholders) was food and fibre production (farmers) versus water quality regulation (community, GBR tourists, tour operators and fishermen). There were synergies between water quality regulation (community, GBR tourists, tour operators and fishermen) and floodplain recreational and commercial fisheries (fishermen). Scale mis-matches between water quality management structures and ecosystem service flows were also evident. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of this ecosystem services approach, and its potential application in the GBR and other catchment-to-reef social–ecological systems.

► Ecosystem services are useful for assessing trade-offs in water quality management.
► We trialled the approach in the Tully–Murray catchment, Great Barrier Reef and found.
► Trade-offs between food production, water quality regulation, tourism and fisheries.
► Symmetry between private stakeholders: farmers, tour operators, tourists and fishermen.
► Scale mis-matches between ecosystem service flows and water quality governance.