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AMCS and Queensland Government respond to Reef “In Danger” list recommendation

AMCS and Queensland Government respond to Reef “In Danger” list recommendation
November 29, 2022

The Reactive Monitoring Mission report released today by World Heritage Committee’s scientific advisory bodies shows the Great Barrier Reef is in trouble and outlines the critical steps needed to protect it. Australia has a small window of time to focus on solutions and meaningful climate action. The Reactive Monitoring Mission report gives the Australian and Queensland governments a clear road map on how to avoid the Reef being placed on the ‘In Danger’ list.

Following the release of the report, the Australian Marine Conservation Society notes that the Australian and Queensland governments must act quickly and decisively on protecting the Great Barrier Reef while the Queensland Government claim that they are working with the Australian Government and acting on climate change.

AMCS Great Barrier Reef Campaign Manager Dr Lissa Schindler advises “The Great Barrier Reef is Australia’s most spectacular natural wonder and an international treasure that’s threatened by global warming, agricultural pollution and commercial fishing.

“The Australian and Queensland governments have made important steps towards helping the Reef lately but the Reactive Monitoring Mission report highlighted that more action is urgently needed if they are serious about saving the Reef and the $6 billion tourism industry and 60,000 jobs it supports.

“Governments must combat climate change by drastically cutting emissions to limit global warming to 1.5oC – a critical threshold for corals. Every fraction of a degree matters. They also need to urgently tackle local threats to the Reef by stopping water pollution from agricultural run-off, controlling tree clearing and erosion, ending gillnet fishing and monitoring trawling catches in Reef waters.”

Australia’s climate and energy minister, Chris Bowen, stressed the need to keep global warming to 1.5oC at the recent COP27 meeting “It’s important because if we’re not trying to keep to 1.5C, then what are we here for?” he said to the Guardian news outlet.

The World Heritage Committee (WHC) sent its scientific advisers, UNESCO and the IUCN, to take a first-hand look at the Great Barrier Reef after it put the previous Coalition Government's management of the Reef on notice at the WHC meeting in 2021.

The Reactive Monitoring Mission visited the Reef in March during the latest mass bleaching event – the fourth since 2016. The mission’s report will inform the WHC’s decision as to whether to list the Reef as “In Danger” when it next meets. The WHC’s decision will also be informed by whether the Australian and Queensland governments work to deliver the actions recommended in the report to protect the Reef.

Dr Schindler adds “Global warming is the Reef’s greatest threat, driving the marine heatwaves that lead to the damaging mass bleaching events that have struck the Reef in recent years. Business as usual will not safeguard the Reef, we need climate policies and a plan to tackle the climate crisis damaging our Reef.

“Australia has an outsized impact on climate, responsible for 5% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.1 Queensland alone contributes a third of Australia’s emissions and is ranked third highest in the world per capita. As a start, the federal government should reject the Clive Palmer-owned Central Queensland Coal mine and Queensland should increase its woefully inadequate emissions reduction target.

“The Reef is also threatened by polluted run-off from agricultural land, including sediment that can smother the Reef and synthetic fertilisers that turbo-charge algal blooms. The Queensland Government must enforce the regulations to prevent run-off from agricultural land and work with the federal government to restore large areas of coastal wetlands – nature's water quality filters.

“The Queensland Government must control tree clearing in Reef catchments because of the failure of the 2018 legislation to slow clearing.2 It must close loopholes that allow clearing without permits. The Australian Government must enforce federal laws and improve them to stop clearing of threatened species habitat.

“Unsustainable and illegal fishing is one of the biggest local threats to the Reef. High-risk fishing methods such as gillnet fishing and trawling continue to cause the deaths of threatened species such as dugongs, turtles and sawfish on our Reef. The Queensland Government must end gillnet fishing in Reef waters to give our iconic dugongs and turtles a chance to recover. The Queensland Government must also immediately roll out cameras on all trawl vessels to independently monitor the bycatch in this high-risk fishery.”

In response to the report, Queensland Minister for the Environment and the Great Barrier Reef and Minister for Science and Youth Affairs, Meaghan Scanlon notes “Since this report was written, things have changed. We finally have a Government in Canberra working with Queensland and acting on climate change.

“The report calls for the Federal and State Governments to undertake ‘ambitious, rapid and sustained’ action to protect the reef.

“That’s what we are doing.

“Since the mission, we have taken ambitious action on climate with a $62 billion Energy and Jobs Plan that will generate cleaner, cheaper energy right at the reef’s doorstep, and transition our coal fired power stations to clean energy hubs.

“In last year’s budget we committed $270 million to continue the Queensland Reef Water Quality Program, and address water pollution, taking our total spend since 2015 to over $1 billion.

“We’re scaling up land restoration, supporting farmers to improve runoff, banning more single-use plastics and driving sustainability with a $1.1 billion Recycling and Jobs Fund.

“It builds on strong, tree clearing laws we introduced in 2018, as well as reef regulations we introduced to address land-based sources of water pollution into the reef, both measures opposed by the Queensland LNP opposition.

“We will continue to build on these actions, while supporting the unparalleled science and management frameworks underpinning our conservation efforts, as recognised by the report.”

The Reactive Monitoring Report can be found at whc.unesco.org/en/documents/197090

About the author

Karen Sweaney

Co-founder and Editor, Australasian Leisure Management

Artist, geoscientist and specialist writer on the leisure industry, Karen Sweaney is Editor and co-founder of Australasian Leisure Management.

Based in Sydney, Australia, her specific areas of interest include the arts, entertainment, the environment, fitness, tourism and wellness.

She has degrees in Fine Arts from the University of Sydney and Geological Oceanography from UNSW.

Read more from this author

Related Articles

22nd November 2022 - Queensland Government’s Reef Assist invests $20 million for projects in six catchment areas

31st October 2022 - Research and tourism partnership launches in Whitsundays to help reef recovery

21st October 2022 - Additional $204 million allocated in Federal Budget for protection of Great Barrier Reef

31st August 2022 - Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek urged to consider impact on the Reef and wetlands from coal and gas projects

26th August 2022 - $3 million to improve Great Barrier Reef island access and act as catalyst for ecotourism opportunities

9th August 2022 - Indigenous rangers from Great Barrier Reef undertake scuba diver training

25th March 2022 - Severe coral bleaching revealed on Great Barrier Reef as UNESCO/IUCN considers whether to recommend ‘in danger’ listing   

18th March 2022 - Great Barrier Reef suffers another bleaching event ahead of United Nations assessment visit

24th February 2022 - Scientists and tourism operators confirm results for successful Great Barrier Reef coral nurture program

29th January 2022 - Conservationists welcome funding to address water pollution and illegal fishing impacting the Reef


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