Introduction

What action does Townsville want to take for its rivers and Reef? We asked, and our community answered.

The Townsville Community Action Plan details the issues, ideas, and projects that the people of Townsville want to see prioritised for the health of their waterways.

Through a rewarding process of consultation and engagement, we’ve worked with co-leaders Reef Ecologic to help a diverse range of people from across our region turn these priorities into roadmaps for practical action.

“Townsville is deeply connected to its waterways,” says our Executive Officer, Kara-Mae Coulter-Atkins. “This plan maps the change we want to see for our local rivers and reefs.”

Read on or download the Townsville Community Action Plan PDF.

Thanks to workshops, events, and consultation in late 2022 and early 2023, the Townsville community decided to focus its plan on two priority issues:

  • The effects of stormwater runoff and erosion. Two stressors affecting local Townsville reefs are sediment and nutrient pollution from stormwater runoff. By protecting riverbanks and coastlines from runoff, our town wants to see both land and water ecosystems benefit.
  • Climate change and its local impacts on our waterways and reefs. Townsville wants to see greenhouse gas emissions in our local atmosphere reduced, and ecosystems become more resilience to climate change. To this end our community has identified support for blue carbon projects and ecosystem restoration as paths to follow.

To tackle their two priority issues, the people of Townsville selected and mapped six ‘shovel-ready’ on-ground projects for realisation as soon as possible. 

Get involved

“Townsville has pointed at the change it wants to make,” Kara-Mae says. “Now we’re inviting applications from the players who will put it into action.”

Townsville schools, community groups, Traditional Owners, innovators and change-makers are invited apply for seed funding to kickstart project delivery.

Learn more about the projects, grant information, and explore the background behind our Townsville Community Action Plan.

The development of Townsville’s Community Action Plan (CAP) has been made possible by the partnership between the Australian Government’s Reef Trust and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.