A Community Survey of Climate Change and the Great Barrier Reef

Abstract

This report provides an understanding of the Australian community’s awareness, concern and participation regarding climate change and the Great Barrier Reef. It was designed to be used as a tool for developing effective engagement strategies and future climate change human dimensions research. A telephone survey was used to collect information about Australian residents’ climate change perceptions, beliefs and behaviours and motivations to reduce the impact of climate change on the Great Barrier Reef. In total, 1,609 interviews were completed in communities adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef (‘Reef area’) and in the capital cities of Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney (‘City area’) in November 2008. The results presented in this report are primarily descriptive in nature, with the aim of providing a broad overview of the social characteristics of climate change and the Great Barrier Reef. Further work using the data collected here could explore managerially useful ways of segmenting the population with the aim of gaining a better understanding of how to communicate and manage climate change impacts on the Great Barrier Reef.