- Water pollution is still the biggest local threat to the Great Barrier Reef, undermining its resilience in the face of accelerating climate change
- The government's draft strategy lacks the concrete actions and funding needed to protect the Reef from water pollution
- Government action to reduce water pollution is critical to protect the Reef and to avoid a World Heritage in Danger listing
The Queensland Government's draft Reef 2050 Catchment Water Quality Strategy released yesterday is all vision and no substance, warned the Australian Marine Conservation Society.
AMCS Great Barrier Reef Water Quality Manager Dr Max Hirschfeld said: "We expected a Strategy that clearly sets out how Queensland will meet its water quality targets by 2030, drawing on the science, data and experience developed since the last plan was released in 2017.
"The draft released amounts to a high-level vision without any real substance, devoid of clear and practical steps of how water quality in the Great Barrier Reef is going to be addressed and backed by sufficient funding.
"The Queensland and Australian Governments had two decades worth of learnings and the latest scientific research to build into a concrete action plan to tackle water pollution. Yet after delaying the strategy for two years, we've been given a high level document with a half-page note on delivery. The strategy restates long-standing intentions without specifying delivery, accountability or resourcing. This is not a plan for addressing the second biggest threat to the Great Barrier Reef with the urgency it requires.
"Communities deserve a fully funded, detailed plan ready for implementation – not another glossy government document that goes nowhere.
"The absence of a concrete plan is particularly troubling given the government's failure to meet the 2025 water quality targets.
"Tree clearing, especially of waterways (riparian areas), remains one of the biggest drivers of water pollution and continues to undermine public investments into restoration. It is deeply concerning that the new targets for riparian vegetation have gone backwards. Instead of increasing riparian vegetation, as previously promised, the draft strategy now only aims for 'no net loss' – a step that won't reduce sediment pollution threatening coral and seagrass ecosystems.
"The Reef has endured six mass coral bleaching events in the past nine years. Floods this year sent river plumes 700 kilometres along the coast and 100 kilometres offshore, contributing to the biggest annual coral losses in two of the Reef's three regions since records began in 1986.
"Australia missed the 2025 water quality targets, and at the current rate of progress we're on track to miss the nitrogen target by 84 years and the sediment target by 17 years. Only a fraction of the funding needed to meet these goals has been invested since 2003.
"The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) again rated the Reef's outlook as "critical" - the worst possible status - in its World Heritage Outlook report released earlier this month at the IUCN World Conservation Congress.
"Australia must submit a full State of Conservation report to UNESCO by February 2026. But with Queensland now backsliding on their renewable energy targets and extending the life of coal-fired power stations, there is a real risk that the Reef will be recommended for the List of World Heritage in Danger next year, if water pollution control continues to lag.
"Without a clear plan, our governments risk overpromising and under-delivering yet again – to UNESCO, the Australian public, and to the reef communities whose livelihoods depend on a healthy ocean."