The 2022 Scientific Consensus Statement introduced several measures to ensure that each major step of its development underwent some form of review. This provides additional assurance that the final outputs were high-quality, credible and robust. Australia’s Chief Scientist, Dr Foley, was engaged to ensure that the processes used to develop the 2022 Scientific Consensus Statement met best practice standards and aligned with the guiding principles. The Reef Water Quality Independent Science Panel was responsible for providing oversight and assurance for the technical content of the report, seeking advice from other experts involved in the process when needed.
Australia’s Chief Scientist
Australia’s Chief Scientist, Dr Cathy Foley, provided advice and guidance about the processes to develop the 2022 Scientific Consensus Statement, and recommended additional measures to strengthen the delivery of the project in line with the guiding principles. At the conclusion of the project, Dr Foley provided an Assurance Statement, as well as a more in-depth analysis of each major step in the process.
Assurance Statement from Australia’s Chief Scientist
Dr Cathy Foley, Australia’s Chief Scientist, was tasked in 2021 by the Prime Minister to provide quality assurance and oversight for the development of the 2022 Scientific Consensus Statement on Land-Based Impacts on Great Barrier Reef Water Quality and Ecosystem Condition (2021-2024).
The role of the Chief Scientist was to identify, recommend and support process enhancements that would increase transparency, accountability and confidence in the findings and conclusions of the 2022 Scientific Consensus Statement, to build on the continuous improvements applied to successive Scientific Consensus Statements since their commencement in 2002.
Australia’s Chief Scientist provided advice and made several recommendations to enhance the 2022 Scientific Consensus Statement process, through strengthened processes to manage conflicts of interest through the engagement of an external probity advisor and providing guidance on the development of the peer review process including appointment of Editorial Board members and eminent reviewers. For the five major process steps in the development of the 2022 Scientific Consensus Statement, Australia’s Chief Scientist concluded:
- Question Setting: The approach to question-setting was iterative and inclusive. The consultation process involved more than 70 stakeholders, Traditional Owner groups and end users from a range of organisations and industries. This ensured the final list of questions was broadly supported and as a result was relevant to non-government stakeholders, experts, policy makers and managers.
- Author Selection: The approach to author selection was transparent and robust and achieved the objectives of minimising bias and avoiding real or perceived conflicts of interest.
- Methods Development: The approach to the methods development was objective and transparent and took account of multiple lines of evidence and the best available science. There was adequate oversight to evaluate and review the validity and quality of the methods for all stages of the process.
- Peer Review: The peer review process was comprehensive and fully transparent, including the process for managing conflicts of interest. An Editorial Board was established to manage the review process. The editorial process involved contributions from 69 external reviewers from Australia and overseas to ensure the outputs were rigorous and credible.
- Consensus Process: Best practice methods were used for the consensus process and developed in an objective and transparent manner, taking account of multiple lines of evidence and including the best available science which contributed to the quality and integrity of the process. There was adequate oversight to evaluate and review the validity and quality of the 2022 Scientific Consensus Statement.
The 2022 Scientific Consensus Statement on Land-Based Impacts on Great Barrier Reef Water Quality and Ecosystem Condition is an exemplar of the academic methods for reaching scientific consensus. The public can trust the processes used to develop the 2022 Scientific Consensus Statement, and the conclusions can be relied upon and trusted to inform decision-making.
Read Dr Foley’s full Assurance Report about the 2022 SCS process.
Reef Water Quality Independent Science Panel
The Reef Water Quality Independent Science Panel (the ISP) was established in 2009 to provide multidisciplinary scientific advice to the Australian and Queensland governments on the implementation of the Reef Water Quality Protection Plan. In this role, the ISP has reviewed the 2013, 2017 and 2022 Scientific Consensus Statements.
Reef Water Quality Independent Science Panel Remarks on the 2022 Scientific Consensus Statement
The Independent Science Panel was established in 2009 to provide multidisciplinary scientific advice to the Australian and Queensland governments on the implementation of the Reef Water Quality Protection Plan. In this role, the Independent Science Panel has reviewed the 2013, 2017 and 2022 Scientific Consensus Statements
The 2022 Scientific Consensus Statement is currently the best and most authoritative source of information to support evidence-based decisions for better water quality in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. The Independent Science Panel endorses the process, findings and conclusions of the updated statement.
The process used to develop the 2022 Scientific Consensus Statement was much more formalised compared to previous iterations. To meet the needs of end users, issues were categorised into 30 questions across eight major themes, with teams of expert authors enlisted to address each question. Structured templates, formal evidence appraisal methods and multiple review processes were used to ensure rigour, quality, transparency, independence and convergence in the outputs. The systematic approach used to assess the literature is novel in the field of environmental management and has proved to be a very effective strategy.
The results show that there is considerable and strong foundational evidence that has not changed since the previous Scientific Consensus Statement, including clear evidence of the impact of anthropogenic land-based runoff on water quality and freshwater, estuarine, coastal and inshore marine ecosystems. This provides greater confidence for managers in the strength of the evidence that underpins the Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan.
Notable advances from previous Scientific Consensus Statements are greater emphasis on climate change as a pressure and threat, increased analysis of management actions and their potential impacts, and much more focus on social and economic aspects of management as well as factors of success for engaging Traditional Owners in water quality issues. Improving water quality will bolster the resilience of ecosystems against climate change pressures, but scaling up remediation actions and implementing changes to management practices remains challenging.
Knowledge gaps still exist, in particular around potential co-benefits, the economics of changing different management practices, the social drivers that will help adoption of practice changes to improve water quality, and the role that wetlands can play as both an ecosystem asset and a regulating mechanism. While there has been more emphasis on the role of non-agricultural contaminants this is still a notable data gap.
In summary, the use of a systematic approach to assess literature in the field of environmental management establishes new standards for knowledge synthesis and enhances confidence in the quality of the findings. This Scientific Consensus Statement updates the peer reviewed knowledge about water quality issues and management options in the Great Barrier Reef and establishes a new reference point for subsequent governance, program design and investment.
