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Two years after a 35-year plan to save Australia's Great Barrier Reef was released, the country is being told that it is failing to meet the targets:
The United Nations cultural heritage body UNESCO urged Australia on Saturday to accelerate efforts to save the Great Barrier Reef, saying long term targets to improve its health were unlikely to be met.
Progress towards achieving water quality targets has been slow, and Australia was at risk of falling short of its 2050 goals, UNESCO warned in a draft assessment of world heritage sites prepared ahead of a meeting in Krakow, Poland, in July.
"The World Heritage Centre and IUCN consider that the implementation of the Plan will need to accelerate to ensure that the intermediate and long-term targets of 2050 LTSP (Long-Term Sustainability Plan) are being met, in particular regarding water quality," the report said.
Australia's Reef 2050 Plan was released in 2015 and is a key part of the government's bid to prevent the World Heritage Site being placed on the United Nation's "in danger" list.
Also at The Guardian.
Meanwhile, experts have called for a new approach to coral reef conservation in the "Anthropocene":
In a paper [DOI: 10.1038/nature22901] [DX] out Wednesday in the journal Nature, more than a dozen experts from around the world say that coral reefs are likely to undergo major changes as a result of continued climate change and other human activities, like fishing. But while future coral ecosystems might look a lot different than they do today, from the species they contain to the places they live, they aren't necessarily doomed. In fact, accepting this transition and helping them through it might be the best — and even only way — to save them.
(Score: 2, Flamebait) by MostCynical on Tuesday June 06 2017, @08:32AM (3 children)
the thing is just in the way of ships, anyway.
Once it's dead, more ships will be able to get through, and we'll even be able to dredge some better channels.
Get that iron ore and coal and gas out of the country, faster! More profits for other countries!
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-28/great-barrier-reef-oil-spill-ship-identified-north-queensland/7667452 [abc.net.au]
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/sep/06/australia-seeks-120m-for-great-barrier-reef-damage-from-chinese-coal-ship [theguardian.com]
http://elibrary.gbrmpa.gov.au/jspui/bitstream/11017/660/1/State-of-the-Reef-Report-2006-Shipping-and-oil-spills.pdf [gbrmpa.gov.au]
/s, but only just.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2, Informative) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday June 06 2017, @11:55AM (1 child)
I've always said oil in ships in a big, big problem. Pipelines are the way to go. With a ship, the oil can spill. It can make a mess. Like it made on the Great Barrier Reef. A great, bloody mess, they say in Australia. They say that down under, a bloody mess. Like Kathy Griffin, like what she did. A real mess, disgusting. Very hurtful to me and my family. Very hurtful to me and, I think, to my family. Honestly, the environment is a problem, it's a mess. In America I'm fixing it. I promised to approve the Dakota Access Pipeline and I approved that. I approved it in my first 100 days, a promise kept. I promised to approve the Keystone XL, but Transcanada has to apply again. Transcanada has to reapply. I'll approve it, but they have to apply. And then we can get on with making America great again. With oil coming down from Alberta, from the tar sands in Alberta, our beautiful, beautiful oil, coming to the Gulf of Mexico. I mean, it's Texas, it's part of the U.S.A., but we call it the Gulf of Mexico. Not for long, folks, let me tell you, not for long. I'm all about the pipelines because oil can spill from a ship but it can't spill from a pipeline. It stays there in the pipe. Very smart. Very clean. Keeping the water clean and refreshing. #TrumpWater
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 06 2017, @05:50PM
are you high? pipelines leak like crazy all the time
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday June 06 2017, @02:46PM
If we just spill some oil on it, won't this help kill it quicker and get it out of our way? Then we can get back to putting the coal miners back to work.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.