This report presents a synthesis of current knowledge through expert opinion about the threats and potential impacts of climate change in the Wet Tropics Cluster (WTC) region across all sectors. The report is framed by the specific topics and issues defined by the NRM groups in the Wet Tropics Cluster (WTC) region, reflecting their planning processes and priorities of these groups as well as the characteristics of their regional communities. The report presents key messages around each topic and issue in bold type in each chapter. These key messages represent our syntheses of expected threats and impacts based on expert opinion but also substantiated by published sources. Each key message is followed by a brief explanation of the underlying scientific evidence with a small number of key citations to the relevant literature. In most cases there is a fair amount of uncertainty associated with the key messages and they should be understood as best estimates based on expert opinion.

This report focuses on four geographically distinct NRM regions grouped in the Wet Tropics Cluster; the Mackay-Whitsunday, Wet Tropics, Cape York, and the Torres Strait regions, which are managed by Reef Catchments NRM, Terrain NRM, Cape York NRM, and the Torres Strait Regional Authority, respectively. Along with very high biodiversity values, there are numerous and substantial economic and cultural values including extensive and intensive agriculture, tourism, mining, and large areas of Indigenous lands in the region.  Much of the NRM Cluster’s area is ‘highly contested’ with multiple and sometimes conflicting demands for the region’s natural resources. Climate change is likely to exacerbate the issues and challenges.