We draw on fieldwork involving original expert interviews (N = 23) and extensive site visits (N = 23) in Australia to examine four types of climate interventions spanning climate differing degrees of radicalism. These four types of interventions are: adaptation, solar geoengineering, forestry and ecosystems restoration, and carbon removal.

Having planned and conducted our interviews and site visits, the Great Barrier Reef emerged as an ideal case given the urgency of threats confronting this iconic and unique ecosystem. To an extent, the types of strategies entertained, including engaging in selective breeding and assisted adaptation of coral species as well as regional solar geoengineering in form of fogging and marine cloud brightening, are the product of the intersection of the importance of this ecosystem and its prevailing challenges.

Moving beyond hypothetical questions of acceptability, this empirical study demonstrates how real-world consideration of this portfolio of climate interventions ultimately works to challenge existing categorizations and typologies of climate action, not least given that these activities represent some of the first field trials for solar geoengineering.

To understand and explicate how and why climate-intervention options which have been criticized as overly controversial are being explored through field trials, we identify and examine positive synergies and coupling, both in relation to the local economics and ecosystems, and between the options themselves. At the same time, underscoring the need for more research and for precaution before broader deployment, we- illustrate lingering trade-offs and risks needing to be taken into account.

Through our empirical research, which in some cases signifies one of the first times such research has been discussed, three inductive themes emerge: complexity and coupling, risk and multi-scalar effects, and radicality and governance.

The Great Barrier Reef, while one of a kind, is far from the only important reef. Communities and economies, many in the Global South, are strongly dependent on reef ecosystems. Our work therefore strives to generalize lessons for other communities around the world, confronting the urgency and threats of climate change and which, as a result, could come to consider climate interventions to urgently protect heritage ecosystems.

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