Anthropogenic use of the Great Barrier Reef has always been defined by multiple (often economic) values to humans, from oil extraction to tourism. Since the 1970s, an increased scientific understanding of the reef and its threats, both natural and made made, has changed its management and influenced ongoing conflicts between exploitation and conservation. Rohan Lloyd argues that, although the future of the Reef looks grim considering the overarching pressure of global, anthropogenic climate change, it is in fact the reef’s multiple values to human actors that will ensure its preservation into the future.
DOI: doi.org/10.5282/rcc/7912