Partnerships and cooperation for ecosystem conservation, management, and good aquatic stewardship
Griffith University was host to one of the original centres of excellence established by the Australian Water Research Advisory Council in 1987 and has subsequently played a major role in three aquatic and catchment-based Cooperative Research Centres: Freshwater Ecology; Catchment Hydrology; Coastal and Estuarine Waterways Management.
Since 2006, the University has hosted the Australian Rivers Institute, with staff and students engaged in river, catchment and coastal research and training. Griffith is also a founding partner of the International Water Centre and is host to the Sustainable Water Future Programme, a new global science initiative established under Future Earth.
Through the work on these institutes and centres, Griffith cooperates with local, regional, national and global governments on water security and works directly with industry (through both research and engagement activities) to not only maintain and extend existing ecosystems and their biodiversity, of both plants and animals, especially ecosystems under threat, but also on technologies and practices that enable marine industry to minimise or prevent damage to aquatic ecosystems. Our research and engagement partners include government, water utilities, marine and freshwater industries and conservation bodies, as well as aquaculture, agriculture and tourism providers. Through our work we develop and support programmes and incentives that encourage and maintain good aquatic stewardship practices.
Australian Rivers Institute (ARI)
Griffith's Australian Rivers Institute (ARI) is a global leader in river, coast, and catchment research and education. ARI works directly with industry to protect and restore threatened ecosystems and biodiversity, while minimising harm to aquatic environments. Its research helps governments at all levels, resource managers, the water sector, and communities make informed decisions for sustainable management and water security.
The Institute brings together scientists and postgraduate students with expertise across a broad range of disciplines including aquatic ecology, biogeochemistry, geomorphology, economics and law. ARI is also host to the new Sustainable Water Future Programme under Future Earth.
ARI aims to deliver world-class science that improves understanding of catchment, river, estuarine and coastal ecosystems, focusing on both plants and animals, and in particular ecosystems under threat. Working closely with industry, the Institute encourages a creative and collaborative environment that fosters the next generation of ecosystem scientists, and provides the knowledge to support sustainable use and conservation of the world’s natural resources.
Find out more Read the highlights about our 2023 initiatives
International WaterCentre engagement activities for increased cooperation
The International WaterCentre (IWC) brings together professionals, industry practitioners and academics to undertake research, synthesise and share experiences, knowledge and skills, and enable the application of Integrated Water Management. The IWC supports several domestic and international Communities of Practice including the annual Water and WASH Futures Knowledge Events, the Queensland Water Modelling Network (which was established in 2017 and is ongoing throughout 2024) and the Flood Community of Practice (which was established in 2014 and is ongoing throughout 2024). These initiatives are directly designed to protect and enhance ecosystems under threat, while promoting good aquatic stewardship practices, water security, and water conservation.
Cooperation on Water Security
At Griffith, we cooperate with local, regional, national and global government agencies on water security challenges.
The United Nations defines Water Security as “the capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities of acceptable quality water for sustaining livelihoods, human well-being, and socio-economic development, for ensuring protection against water-borne pollution and water-related disasters, and for preserving ecosystems in a climate of peace and political stability.”
Through Griffith’s commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals, our work towards SDGs 6 and 14 recognises the importance of partnerships and cooperation towards the shared challenges within these goals.
Listed below are several examples of our work with governments at all levels to cooperate on water security:
Griffith has been a member of the Australian Water Partnership (AWP) for many years. Through the AWP, Griffith partners with governments, water utilities, fellow research organisations, NGOs, and private companies to collaborate through partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region to work cooperatively towards improving sustainable and climate-resilient water resource management and water security. Projects span from the local, to regional, national and global levels through cooperation between local communities and governments, and global agencies such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank.
A recent example includes technical support in developing water legislation in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) to support water security, which included members from the Lao PDR provincial and district levels of government. Another example includes partnering with AWP for conferences and events including World Water Week in 2024 for presentations and panels which discussed research evidence on perspectives from local communities (who self-govern their water security) in the Solomon Islands.
Throughout 2023-24, Griffith’s International WaterCentre (IWC) was commissioned by the Pacific Community (SPC) to develop the Pacific Resilience Partnership Water Security Engagement Strategy 2024-2030, along with its associated Action and Communications Plans. This six-year strategy was designed to catalyse regional cooperation and multi-sectoral engagement on water security as a critical component of climate resilience. Developed through 40 multi-sectoral consultations across local, regional, national, and global stakeholders—including government representatives, NGOs, industry experts, and development partners—the strategy exemplifies collective action across all levels of governance on water security. It aims to address persistent challenges in water security across Pacific Island communities by fostering coordinated responses and strengthening partnerships. The strategy is a key outcome of the work of the Pacific Resilience Partnership Water Security Technical Working Group (PRP WSTWG).
The SPC, as a member of the Council of Regional Organisations of the Pacific (CROP), plays a pivotal role in regional governance and policy coordination. CROP agencies, including the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), work collaboratively to support Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) in implementing regional frameworks and responding to shared priorities such as climate resilience and water security. Through its mandate and partnerships, SPC ensures that the Water Security Engagement Strategy aligns with broader regional objectives under the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent. This initiative demonstrates how academic and technical expertise can be mobilised in cooperation with regional intergovernmental bodies to deliver impactful, scalable solutions to water security challenges.
The Pathway Program is Griffith’s International WaterCentre’s (IWC) globally focused water leadership development program. Comprised of three levels, the purpose of the Pathway Program is to provide an easily accessible, foundational leadership development program for water professionals and practitioners – working at all levels of government and in non-government organisations – to strengthen their ability to exert influence and drive positive change in their projects and workplaces, and to address our most significant water-related challenges, including those related to water insecurity (challenges related to water scarcity – physical and economic – climate change impacts, pollution and water quality issues, over-extraction and groundwater depletion, governance, infrastructure and inequitable access issues).
To deliver on the goal of providing universal access to clean water and improved sanitation, to better balance the water needs of economics and societies with those of ecosystems, to clean up our waterways, restore our river basins and to adapt to the growing impacts of climate change, we need to build leadership capacity across the water sector, globally. To do so, the IWC encourages and cultivates emerging water leaders across all sectors and government departments at multiple levels to connect, collaborate and drive change more rapidly than ever before. These water leaders include those who work for or directly with local governments and communities who manage their own water supply, including participants from the Solomon Islands Water Authority (a state-owned enterprise wholly owned by the Government of Solomon Islands), and those who lead at the regional level supporting national level governments to implement infrastructure workings.
This has included participants from the community NGO level, through to global development agencies including the World Bank and Asian Development bank – all who see the importance of cooperation towards water security, with capacity building a step towards increasing this cooperation.
Maintaining and extending existing ecosystems under threat
At Griffith, we work directly – through our research, partnerships and engagement – with industry, government non-government organisations, and communities to maintain and extend existing ecosystems and their biodiversity. This includes both plants and animals, with a particular focus on ecosystems under threat.
In 2024, we continued our work in the Murray-Darling Basin working directly with the Murry-Darling Basin Authority. This ecosystem is significantly under significant threat. It is a vast and ecologically diverse area, which spans over 1 million square kilometres. It is home to a range of unique species, wetlands, and river systems. However, the basin faces several serious environmental challenges due to a combination of human activities and climate change.
We also continued our work with the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research, UNESCO and the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), to provide scientific information on threats to the Antarctic environment, and government advice as to preventative and remedial action. Antarctica is an ecosystem under significant threat, primarily due to the impacts of climate change and human activities. While the region is remote and its ecosystems are relatively pristine, the effects of global warming, pollution, and increasing human presence in the area are starting to take a toll.
Find out more about our work in the Murray-Darling Basin and the Antarctic below.
Through research and engagement, Griffith works directly with industry to protect and enhance threatened ecosystems. Antarctica is no longer pristine, and our ability to capture change, forecast and mitigate impacts hinges on our ability to implement and coordinate effective circum-Polar surveillance measures. This initiative seeks to provide scientific information on threats to the Antarctic environment, and government advice as to preventative and remedial action. It represents an investment into an existing area of research capacity and excellence, and will deliver an established, international, research, logistics and policy network ready to ascend with the initiative for immediate impact. The 2021-2030 Antarctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AnMAP) is a joint initiative between the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research, UNESCO and the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), hosted by Griffith. AnMAP ensures sufficient and reliable data from the Antarctic, regarding animals and plants, is collected to support global policy development through coordinated circum-Antarctic surveillance of trends and ecosystem change to ultimately help protect the threatened ecosystem and its biodiversity.
The Murray-Darling Basin is an ecosystem under significant threat due to a combination of over-extraction of water for agriculture, climate change impacts like drought, and poor water quality. These pressures have led to degraded river health, diminished native fish and bird populations, drying wetlands, and large-scale fish kills.
Recent severe droughts and extreme ecological events in parts of the Basin have highlighted the significant challenges ahead in adaptively managing Basin ecosystems (and environmental water) to achieve environmental outcomes under a changing climate.
Research commissioned by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority to inform the delivery of environmental flows in the Murray-Darling Basin. This is a critical element of water security as the Authority is tasked with managing water for human use and environmental outcomes. The Murray-Darling Basin Authority is a statutory body representing the Commonwealth government in the management of the region. The ecological health of the Basin’s rivers and other water systems is central to a healthy, working Basin now and into the future. Griffith is playing a key role in an ongoing consortium, established in 2021 (and is continuing throughout 2024), with La Trobe University, the Murray Lower Darling Rivers Indigenous Nations and IDEEA Group. They are delivering research on environmental outcomes, and social, economic and cultural outcomes.
Technologies towards aquatic ecosystem damage prevention
Griffith works with industry on technologies and practices to minimise and prevent damage to aquatic ecosystems. Griffith researchers work with key partners to delivery these projects both locally on the Gold Coast and regionally and internationally in the Antarctic ecosystems through satellite and mapping technologies and tracking and monitoring systems.
Explore our case studies below.
Griffith University is playing a pivotal role in a SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre (CRC). In Australia, a CRC is an industry-led, government-funded collaboration between businesses, researchers, and community organisations to solve industry-identified problems and improve commercial competitiveness. The SmartSat CRC is not only funded federally, but is also supported by the Queensland State Government, and is funded from 2019 to 2026. It seeks to improve coastal management in the highly utilised Gold Coast Seaway. As part of the Queensland Earth Observation Hub, Griffith researchers are working directly with the City of Gold Coast and industry partners FUGRO and EOMAP to apply satellite-derived bathymetry (SDB) - a technology that maps the shape of the ocean floor using satellite data - to transform how dynamic nearshore environments such as the Nerang River Entrance are monitored and managed.
This project exemplifies Griffith’s long-standing commitment to applied research and industry collaboration, particularly in developing technologies that support sustainable marine operations. Drawing on over 25 years of partnership with the City of Gold Coast, Griffith’s expertise in managing engineered sandy urban coastlines is helping deliver practical, science-based solutions that reduce ecological harm, enhance coastal resilience, and enable the marine industry to better minimise and prevent damage, while protecting aquatic ecosystems. The project exemplifies Griffith’s commitment to applied research and industry engagement, delivering science-based solutions that inform sustainable coastal development and conservation strategies. By advancing our understanding of coastal processes, the project contributes to the protection of vital marine habitats and supports evidence-based decision-making that benefits the environment, economy and community.
Griffith University’s SOPOPP focuses on man-made threats facing Polar biota and ecosystems working directly with industry and policymakers to implement holistic monitoring practices and technologies that facilitate evidence-informed decision making to minimise and prevent damage to fragile Southern Ocean aquatic ecosystems.
Through SOPOPP Griffith University is leading the ARC Linkage Project Life in the Shipping Lane: The Cost of Increasing Disturbance to Whales (LP210200550), which runs from August 2023 to August 2026, and aims to assess and mitigate the growing risks posed by maritime traffic to humpback whales in Moreton Bay - a critical resting area for migrating whales. Through direct research and engagement with marine industry partners, Griffith is developing technologies and practices to help reduce harm to aquatic ecosystems.
The project uses empirical research and modelling to quantify ship strike risks, assess the impact of chronic disturbances on nursing whale calves, and design mitigation strategies aligned with national marine megafauna protection goals. It builds on pilot studies with the Port of Brisbane and involves collaboration with traditional owners and industry stakeholders including the Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation, DHI Water and Environment, Healthy Land and Water, Stradbroke Flyer, CSIRO, Murdoch University, and the University of the Sunshine Coast.
This project focuses on potential mitigation measures, including new technologies, for industry to prevent humpback whale vessel-strikes. By supporting evidence-based decision-making, the project contributes to sustainable marine tourism and commerce, while advancing practical solutions to protect migratory species and vulnerable marine habitats.
The Humpback Whale Sentinel Program (HWSP) improves humpback whale conservation through long-term biomonitoring. The Humpback Whale Sentinel Program is an ongoing primary surveillance action of AnMAP. It is a long-term, circum-Polar biomonitoring program for surveillance of the Antarctic sea-ice ecosystem, using whale health data, collected annually since 2008 (and still ongoing throughout 2024) from migrating whale populations across the Southern Hemisphere, to provide important clues about the status of the Antarctic sea ice ecosystem. It is designed to complement existing sentinel programs under the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCMLR) Ecosystem Monitoring Program (CEMP), and produce open source data for Antarctic and cetacean research communities that ultimately seeks to enable marine industry to minimise and prevent damage and harm to fragile Polar – aquatic – ecosystems. It is supported by the Southern Ocean Research Partnership (SORP), endorsed by the Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS), and is the culmination of 13 years of biomarker and ecological tracer research and development within SOPOPP.
The HWSP targets the sentinel parameters of adiposity, diet and fecundity in five distinct breeding stocks of southern hemisphere humpback whales on an annual basis on their respective breeding grounds. The HWSP relies on strong international partnerships with our Breeding Stock Representatives at Projeto Baleia Jubarte, Brazil; Institute for Research and Development, New Caledonia; Cetacean Research Centre WA and the Pacific Whale Foundation, Ecuador.
Research in support of the HWSP has been conducted by SOPOPP alumni Pascale Eisenmann, Juliana Castrillon, Jasmin Gross, and is the focus of current SOPOPP PhD student, Alexandre Bernier-Graveline.
SOPOPP also combats microplastics and persistent organic pollutants to minimise and prevent damage to the Southern Ocean’s ecosystems. The primary input pathway for Persistent Organic Pollutants to the South Polar Region is long range atmospheric transport. However, increasingly alternate pathways such as ocean currents, migratory biota and in-situ chemical usage must be considered.
Quantification of chemical levels and profiles in standardised media over time will facilitate evaluation of temporal contamination trends and hereby the effectiveness of the aims of the Stockholm Convention in reducing or eliminating these chemicals from the global environment.
Susan Bengtson Nash is the Development Lead of the Antarctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AnMAP), a joint initiative between the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR), UNESCO, the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), and Griffith University. SOPOPP's research activity in support of the goals of AnMAP include Susan Bengtson Nash’s ARC Discovery Project (DP220101462) “Uncovering Antarctica’s Secret Chemical Voyagers” (2023-2027). Dr Michaela Lerch is the Post-doctoral Research Fellow appointed to this project.
This project aims to strengthen global chemical policy by rapidly identifying chemicals that demonstrate environmental persistence and mobility, two requisite risk criteria for practice and regulatory action. It will take the novel approach of applying powerful non-target chemical screening approaches to Antarctic environmental media, leveraging the remoteness of Antarctica to derive unambiguous evidence against the key risk criteria.
Research will uncover a new catalogue of proven persistent and mobile chemicals, and further assess their ubiquity and biomagnification potential in the Antarctic system. Project findings will be directly disseminated to policymakers, facilitating expedited regulatory decision-making for improved Planetary Health outcomes.
Programs that support good aquatic stewardship practices
At Griffith, we are focused on encouraging and maintaining good aquatic stewardship practices and supporting our partners – including industry, government and non-government organisations – as well as community members to do the same. In 2024, we continued our work to maintain local aquatic ecosystems around the university and further afield. Find out more about our work in 2024 to maintain Slacks Creek around our campus at Logan, facilitate the Queensland Water Modelling Network, rewild a creek in the Hunter region, and train groups of Traditional owners in safeguarding waterways in North Queensland below.
Ensuring healthy catchments requires engagement and collaboration across a range of public and private stakeholders. Griffith University builds on our research expertise to work with key stakeholders to support water management improvements within our local catchments.
A key aspect of our community engagement work has been on our campus at Logan where, in collaboration with the Slacks Creek Catchment Restoration Group, Griffith University has undertaken riparian restoration along the banks of Slacks Creek and built the native vegetation arboretum to maintain and extend its ecosystem, which it continues to monitor and protect. Griffith continues to maintain this area.
The campus is also used by Logan City Council for their annual Logan Eco Action Festival (LEAF) and is supported by Griffith staff and students, who assist with programming, stalls, set-up and more. During LEAF, visitors to Logan engage with the arboretum to discover more about the value of restoring riparian zones, encouraging good aquatic stewardship, as well as a range of other important sustainability issues.
The QWMN, which is based at Griffith University's Australian Rivers Institute, is improving the state’s capacity to model its surface and groundwater resources and their quality, by providing the tools, information and collaborative platforms to support best-practice use of water models, and the uptake of their results by policy makers, community members and natural resource managers. The engagement program of the Community of Practice run by Griffith staff is designed to help develop and support programmes and incentives that encourage and maintain good aquatic stewardship practices. Water models are developed and used in Queensland to inform decision making across a range of water policy, planning and management issues, including, but not limited to, water resource planning, groundwater impact assessment, flood risk management and Great Barrier Reef water quality improvement. The purpose of the QWMN is to build the capacity and collaboration in the Queensland water modelling sector, to fill strategic sectoral gaps are strengthen the sector. Throughout 2023, QWMN outreached to community, practitioners, government, academic, and business sector stakeholders and included all parts of the catchment in water management and conservation through workshops and events.
A research project over 20 years in the making to restore a dynamic creek system in NSW's Hunter region has yielded fantastic results for the environment and all involved.
Griffith University’s Associate Professor Andrew Brooks started on the experiment to stabilise the creek that ran through Brian Woodward and Sally Middleton’s property in 2001.
Since then, under Associate Professor Brooks’ guiding expertise and the support of the NSW Government and Hunter Local Land Services, the natural interventions put in place have seen the waterway remain a healthy and robust ecosystem, even through major flooding and bushfires.
Griffith University’s 2024 update on its long-running rewilding project at Stockyard Creek in the Hunter Valley highlights how sustained research and collaboration with landholders and government agencies have supported good aquatic stewardship practices. The project has focused on restoring creek stability and ecological function by reintroducing large woody debris to mimic natural processes. This approach has proven effective in enhancing habitat diversity, retaining sediment, and stabilising channels, while also reducing downstream erosion and flood impacts.
These interventions have maintained resilience through major events such as bushfires and floods, with natural vegetation and wood recruitment continuing to support ecosystem recovery. By working directly with industry and government partners, Griffith has delivered practical, science-based solutions that that help encourage and maintain good aquatic stewardship practices.
The fact that the Gulf of Carpentaria region is seen as one of Australia’s iconic, pristine natural environments, full of wildlife and natural wonders, can lead to complacency when it comes to monitoring the health of these ecosystems over time making them particularly vulnerable.
A 2022-2024 collaboration between Griffith University and the Carpentaria Land Council Aboriginal Corporation (CLCAC) is helping to overcome this complacency. This is being achieved through the development and implementation of an educational program on freshwater ecosystems. As part of this program, Traditional Owners are being trained to take the lead monitoring and safeguarding fresh and marine waterways in the Gulf of Carpentaria region, thus promoting good aquatic stewardship.
Aquatic systems, such as wetlands, lakes, rivers and streams, groundwater seeps and estuaries can suffer from water quality problems, both natural and manmade, which impact drinking water supplies, and the animals and plants that live in these systems. There is also increasing pressure from water development, which can impact on waterway productivity and health.
Traditional owners have lived in northern Australia for tens of thousands of years and have a deep knowledge and connection to these aquatic systems, and a desire to protect them.
In the southern Gulf of Carpentaria lands, the CLCAC undertake ranger programs support the aquatic health of the lands and waters. Their program now includes water quality monitoring in both marine and freshwater lakes, wetlands, rivers and estuaries, thanks to a collaboration CLCAC initiated with Griffith University researchers.
This educational program involved developing a monitoring program tailored for each ranger group and identification of sites either of particular significance and/or where there is concern about water quality. Throughout 2023 three ranger groups conducted their own regular monitoring of the region, with an additional group trained in 2024.
Maintaining and enhancing ecosystems through water and wastewater management research
While safe and sustainable water and waste management systems are essential in resilient cities, Griffith University recognises that the integration of these systems is equally important. The Cities Research Institute works with partners in industry and government to identify the key research challenges of integrating water and waste management in our ever-expanding cities, as well as Australia's remote Indigenous communities, while protecting vulnerable ecosystems, including both plants and animals.
Improving community-based water management options for remote Australia
Working directly with industry and community, Griffith researchers brought their expertise to remote communities to help remote and isolated communities use less water and energy, empower communities and households through sharing data, and improve the environmental health and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) outcomes in regional/remote/isolated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. In 2023, Griffith University contributed to a global review highlighting the effects of racism, social exclusion and discrimination on achieving universal safe water and sanitation in high-income countries and published in The Lancet Global Health. Most recently, the Cities Research Institute has been working in remote Australia through the iKnow, weKnow (2023-2026) project.
Green Research Labs
Delivering the principles of water sensitive urban design presents an enduring challenge in many urban environments. Griffith's Green Infrastructure Research Labs supports water-sensitive cities through a range of green assets, from green roofs, walls and sky gardens through to street trees, bioretention systems, constructed wetlands, parks and gardens, fauna overpasses and movement corridors, landfill and mine waste phytocapping.
Embedding biodiversity in buildings
Griffith University's Green Infrastructure Research Labs has teamed with Aria Property Group in a new testing facility dedicated to researching the performances of trees and plants that are embedded in green buildings. The long-cycle facility, the first of its kind in a subtropical region anywhere in the world, will test the performance of different types of trees and different types of shrubs, embedded into the fabric of buildings, either into the walls of the buildings, or into their roofs.
Sea World and sea jellies research
Our state-of-the-art laboratory, which was established in 2018 and which is open everyday to the public throughout 2023 and 2024, was specifically designed for studying sea jellies, is located within Sea World’s ‘Sea Jellies Illuminated’ exhibit and is on display to the public. The laboratory provides fantastic opportunities for studying sea jellies and for engaging the public in scientific research.
The lab connects Griffith’s research with the community in an interactive and fun manner, allowing marine conservation education and engagement for all all ages through conservation partnerships.
Contact Griffith Sustainability
Griffith Sustainability Room 2.40, Building N54, Griffith University, 170 Kessels Road, Nathan QLD, 4111