Environment

Researchers at Griffith are collaborating locally and internationally to maintain, protect and extend primary forests in both terrestrial and coastal ecosystems. These efforts include identifying and assessing carbon stocks, evaluating ecosystem services, understanding their role in climate change mitigation, and developing policies for their protection and restoration.

• Carbon carrying capacity in primary and old-growth forests as the reference level to assess mitigation potential: demonstrated for European forest (2024)
• Natural forest values for sustainable income generation: the Basket of Benefits approach (2024)
• Evaluating forest landscape management for ecosystem integrity
• Critical reforms for effective and timely action to prevent irreparable harm to Earth's climate and biodiversity: A call for a Joint CBD & UNFCCC SBSTA Work Plan on Climate and Biodiversity Action
• Conservation of the critically endangered Box-gum grassy woodlands with ecosystem accounting in Australia
• The role of natural forests, including primary forests and intact forest landscapes, in climate mitigation and limiting global warming to the Paris Agreement target of 1.5 °C

In our GLOW Mangroves project, Griffith University academics work with the World Wildlife Fund (US Oceans team) to ensure climate smart restoration and protection of mangroves locally and globally. Commencing in 2022, and still ongoing, the project maintains, conserves, restores and extends coastal mangrove habitats.

Part One of the project integrates climate models with models of mangrove forest change to predict locations globally that are most likely to be affected by climate impacts to identify where additional adaptation measures and further conservation work will be needed.

Part Two includes local-scale action across the globe to implement climate smart conservation plans for mangroves. This includes adapting restoration techniques so that restored habitat is more resilient to climate change.

GLOW Mangroves project

Dr Melanie Roberts, from Griffith’s Australian Rivers Institute, together with industry partner the Queensland Department of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation and with support from an Australian Research Council grant, is leading a 2024-2028 project to create a new catchment gully erosion model to benefit the threatened Great Barrier Reef ecosystem.The project explores the complexities of sediment run-off from eroded gullies, and is developing a simple modelling tool to accelerate and improve mitigation efforts.

Poor water quality – in the form of excess nutrients, sediments and pesticides transported from the catchments – affects the health and recovery of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) in a variety of ways. For example, sediment in the water column reduces light that is necessary for sea grass and coral growth, while sedimentation on the sea floor can smother corals and seagrass.

The expected outcomes of the project include a land rehabilitation decision making tool that captures gully erosion (the leading cause of sediment impacting the Great Barrier Reef), benefiting natural resource managers by increasing their ability to meet Reef 2050 policy targets and landowners though development of Natural Capital Markets.

Find out more

The Australian Rivers Institute’s project with the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) is a collaborative effort to foster the creation of a robust framework for response assessment for sustainable management of land, soil and water in the Philippines. This framework, developed between 2021 and 2022, and implemented in 2023 and 2024, is geared towards enhancing our comprehension of the efficacy of strategies aimed at mitigating and adapting to land, soil, and water degradation.

SLAM-2021-104

Rampant deforestation, spreading invasive species, and climate change is causing mass biodiversity loss. This crisis poses a threat to human and planetary health. Many nations, including Australia, have committed to the Global Goal for Nature, aiming for nature positive status by 2030. However, stakeholders including government and businesses lack clarity on how to achieve this goal.

This 2025-2029 project, which is a world-first in its comprehensive approach and is funded by the Australian Research Council, aims to understand the state in which nature was in, as well as the trend of nature’s health over time. Through this project, Griffith University researchers, in partnership with the World Wide Fund for Nature (Australia), Australian Agricultural Company, Accounting for Nature, Bush Heritage Australia, The Australian National University, The University of Queensland and The University of Melbourne will create a framework for how nature can be measured and a decision-making tool to identify actions, as well as demonstrate progress towards nature positive success, ultimately seeking to maintain and extend the biodiversity of ecosystems under threat.

Find out more

In collaboration with the Earth Commission, Griffith is dedicated to the rigorous scientific delineation and quantification of a safe and equitable corridor for the well-being of both humanity and the planet. Fundamental to all life on Earth are essential elements such as clean air and water, biodiversity, thriving oceans, and a stable climate. Through the concerted efforts of our working groups, the Earth Commission scrutinises strategies for safeguarding our planet in a manner that ensures not only environmental sustainability, but also upholds human well-being within the bounds of ecological limits while promoting conservation and the extension of biodiversity across the globe.

Earth Commission

In 2024, academics and students from the School of Environment and Science at Griffith, produced Native plants for school gardens in South East Queensland books. These books were created provide details of 80 plants that are suitable for school gardens, with most native to the region. These books are produced for education, teaching, and conservation purposes. Within the books, each plant has information about how easy it is to grow, light and water requirements, colours of flowers and fruit, along with characteristics including size, optimal growing conditions, where the species occurs naturally and if it is rare or threatened. Although each school and garden is likely to have different requirements including layout, topography, soils, resources and microclimate, this book provides a range of options and so it is likely to include suitable native plants for most situations. This information ensures that staff, students and community members who are accessing our native forests can support Griffith’s efforts to maintain and extend existing ecosystems and their biodiversity, including threatened plant and animal species.

Native plants for school gardens in South East Queensland