- Australia's climate action still falls short of what is needed to protect the Great Barrier Reef from marine heatwaves and escalating bleaching events.
- Delayed water quality targets and an expired pollution plan leave the Reef vulnerable and undermine UNESCO's repeated warnings.
- Ongoing wild coral harvesting in a stressed World Heritage Area highlights the need for a rapid transition to sustainable coral aquaculture.
The Australian Government has today submitted its State Party Report on the state of conservation of the Great Barrier Reef to UNESCO in a hope to keep the Great Barrier Reef off the World Heritage In Danger list.
The Australian Marine Conservation Society said that despite funding and reforms outlined in the report, the Reef's condition shows that current action is not yet matching the scale of the threats.
Dr Lissa Schindler, Great Barrier Reef Campaign Manager said: "The question isn't whether our governments are doing things. It's whether what's being done is enough to turn the Reef's trajectory around."
"The Great Barrier Reef is under severe stress from rising ocean temperatures and the government is not doing enough to mitigate climate change nor is it adequately addressing local pressures, such as water pollution and fisheries."
"Despite what the report states, Australia's overall climate ambition still falls short of addressing the climate risks to the Reef. Our 2035 emissions reduction target is not aligned with limiting warming as close to 1.5 degrees as possible, which is a critical threshold for coral reef survival. Australia also remains one of the world's largest exporters of fossil fuels."
"While Australia may be pushing forward with renewable energy projects, Queensland, the joint manager of the Reef, is moving in the opposite direction, with renewable energy approvals slowing and coal-fired generation being extended. Every extra year of burning coal means more carbon pollution, hotter oceans and more coral bleaching. This is the opposite of what the Reef needs."
"Alongside climate change, poor water quality continues to undermine the Reef's ability to cope with mounting stress. Targets to cut pollution have been delayed repeatedly, and the last water quality plan expired years ago. We still do not have an updated plan that outlines how the government will cut pollution reaching the Reef or how much it will even cost."
"While the Queensland and Australian Government's progress on phasing out gillnets and independent monitoring of trawl vessels is welcome, Australia's largest coral fishery continues to harvest corals from a World Heritage Area under significant pressure. The Australian Government must do more to support the Queensland Coral Fishery to rapidly transition from wild harvest to tank-grown coral aquaculture to help protect our unique and precious corals and increase reef resilience."
"UNESCO has now brought Australia before the World Heritage Committee three times in a row, with water pollution and climate change consistently flagged as key concerns. If those gaps aren't closed, international scrutiny won't go away and neither will the risk to the Reef's future."
