At the Reef Authority, and in all other areas of government, decisions need to be made every day to the best of our abilities based on information available in accessible forms at the time. We are accountable to make decisions even in the face of uncertainty and with the added pressure that these decisions shape the future of a World Heritage Area.
A strong evidence base ensures that decisions are the best they can be, which requires relevant data, science and knowledge be available for use when they are needed, and in a usable format. Many datasets will be used for purposes beyond their original, often very specific, aims under which they were collected – the results are transferred to many scenarios under the guidance of knowledge brokers.
To remain effective and adaptive Reef managers, especially given our increasingly unpredictable and unstable climate, the Reef Authority is working to improve our ability to undertake evidence-based management; modernising our workflows and processes to harness the power of data and the strong research base that exists in the region.