Overnight, the Australian and Queensland governments submitted their report to UNESCO on their progress to protect the Great Barrier Reef. The Australian Marine Conservation Society says governments must dramatically lift their climate targets to protect the Reef.
Last year the World Heritage advisory body UNESCO and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) made 22 recommendations to the Australian and Queensland governments to protect the Reef and avoid an ‘In Danger’ listing.
AMCS Great Barrier Reef Campaign Manager Dr Lissa Schindler said, ‘There has been good progress in protecting the Great Barrier Reef with the Queensland Government’s vastly improved emissions reduction target and the commercial fishing gillnet ban, but more action is needed.
‘The Queensland Government has done well addressing climate change with its improved renewable energy and greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets, but the federal government needs to lift its game.’
Science clear
Dr Schindler says the Australian government must lift its greenhouse gas reduction targets in line with keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees C – a critical threshold for coral reefs. Australia’s current emissions reduction target of 43 per cent by 2030 is consistent with a 2 degree C warming pathway, which equates to the loss of 99 per cent of the world’s coral reefs.
‘Right now the states are leading the way on climate targets,’ she said. ‘If a state with a significant resource sector such as Queensland can set an emissions reduction target of 75 per cent by 2035, then the Australian government can and must go higher.
‘If Australia is serious about fulfilling its commitment to UNESCO to set more ambitious emission reduction targets in alignment with efforts to limit global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees C, then we would expect at least a 90 per cemt emissions reduction target by 2035.
‘The Queensland and Australian governments must take that same bold approach to addressing water quality,’ said Dr Schindler. ‘There continues to be alarming amounts of broadscale tree clearing in Reef catchments, including along watercourses, where vegetation plays a critical role in trapping sediment that would otherwise flow into the Reef.’
Protecting an international marvel
‘The governments must protect and restore wetlands, which provide nursery habitat for a lot of the marine life in Reef waters and also trap nitrogen run-off, which has been linked to crown of thorn seastar outbreaks,’ said Dr Schindler.
‘Tree clearing has a double-whammy effect on climate change, the biggest threat to our Reef, adding to carbon pollution when trees are burned or left to rot, and removing trees that could suck carbon out of the atmosphere.
‘The Reef is an internationally renowned natural marvel that supports a $6 billion tourism industry and 64,000 jobs. We need to do everything we can to protect it.’
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