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Water for the Future

Policy and programs

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Queensland Wetlands Program

In 2003, the Australian and Queensland governments established the Queensland Wetlands Program to protect wetlands in the Great Barrier Reef catchment and throughout Queensland.

Since 2003 the program has supported more than 70 projects that have delivered a range of new mapping, information and decision-making tools that will enable government agencies, landowners, conservationists and regional natural resource management bodies to better protect and manage wetlands into the future.

The Australian Government's Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, and the Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management and Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation are the lead agencies, with other government departments and key stakeholders also involved in the program's implementation.

The first phase of the program (2003 - 2008) was funded through the Great Barrier Reef Coastal Wetlands Protection Program (GBRCWPP) and the Queensland Natural Heritage Trust Wetlands Program (until June 2009). From 2008 - current the program continues to be supported by both the Australian Government, through GBRCWPP and the Caring for our Country Reef Rescue  initiative, and the Queensland Government's Q2 Coasts and Country regional natural resource management program.

Details of all Queensland Wetlands Program (QWP) projects and products can be found on WetlandInfo , the portal to Queensland wetland information.

Project fact sheets

• Regional Body Wetland Census 
• Critical Support Guidelines 
• Scoping and developing a method for the ecological characterisation of dry tropical wetlands 
• Ecological Character Description of Ramsar sites in Queensland 
• Wetlands education 
• Understanding Queensland Wetlands: information review and gap analysis 
• Wetland Inventory Database 
• Wetland Management Profiles 
• Wetland Mapping and Classification 
• Wetlands Planning and Legislation Support Tool 
• Wetland Science Online 
• Map server and data download website 

The Queensland Wetlands Program is part of the Reef Water Quality Protection Plan, a ten-year plan to halt and reverse the declining water quality entering the Great Barrier Reef.