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CEEP contributes to three National Marine Science Strategy white papers

  • 1 day ago
  • 3 min read

Australia’s next decade of ocean research now has a new roadmap. As part of the National Marine Science Committee’s (NMSC) new National Marine Science Strategy (2026–2036), 21 white papers have been released, drawing on contributions from more than 500 scientists, stakeholders and ocean stewards across the country.


UWA Centre for Environmental Economics & Policy (CEEP) Director, A/Prof Abbie Rogers, Deputy Director of Research, Dr Matt Navarro, and Senior Research Fellow, Dr Carmen Elrick-Barr, contributed to three of these papers, bringing environmental economics and social science expertise to some of the biggest questions facing Australia’s coasts and oceans.



A/Prof Rogers and Dr Elrick-Barr contributed to this paper, which sets out a national science framework for building more resilient and sustainable coastal development across Australia. With climate change, population growth and development all placing growing pressure on the coast, the paper identifies ten priority knowledge gaps from predicting coastal hazards at planning-relevant scales through to integrating Indigenous knowledge and socio-economic values into decision-making. It calls for shared national infrastructure for coastal data and monitoring, a stronger coastal workforce, and, in an area central to CEEP’s own expertise, better tools for weighing up the social and economic dimensions of coastal risk, including how insurance and financial mechanisms can support smarter adaptation.



A/Prof Rogers also contributed to this white paper, which argues that conventional management alone has not been enough to halt the decline of Australia's coastal and marine ecosystems. The paper calls for a step-change in active restoration, combining robust science, community engagement, new technologies and supportive policy to restore reefs, kelp forests, wetlands and shellfish beds at scale by 2035. Priorities include national field-testing hubs, deeper integration of Indigenous knowledge, and stronger partnerships across community, industry and government, underpinned by the kind of economic evidence CEEP specialises in to help identify where restoration investment delivers the greatest return.



Dr Navarro contributed to this paper, which makes the case that a healthy ocean depends as much on understanding people as it does on understanding ecosystems. Marine social sciences (including economics, sociology, psychology, geography and political science) are framed around three enabling functions: understanding what drives human behaviour around the ocean, designing human-centred solutions, and embedding participatory, future-facing science into national marine research.


The paper sets out priority actions for the next decade, including building social data infrastructure alongside biophysical datasets, growing capability in the marine social sciences, and creating clearer pathways for this research to reach policymakers and practitioners.


Why it matters


Together, these three papers help highlight that delivering on Australia’s ocean goals requires more than biophysical science. Understanding what coastal communities value, how restoration investment should be prioritised, and how people interact with the ocean are all essential to translating research into outcomes. CEEP is proud to have contributed this expertise to the National Marine Science Strategy and looks forward to seeing these priorities shape Australia’s marine science agenda over the next decade.


Listed below are links to each white paper CEEP contributed to, as well as the full set of 21 white papers published by the National Marine Science Committee:





Contact Us


A/Prof Abbie Rogers: abbie.rogers@uwa.edu.au

Tammie Harold: tamara.harold@uwa.edu.au 


Dr Carmen Elrick-Barr: celrick@usc.edu.au




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