With Help From Saudis, Morrison Pushes To Water Down IPCC Language On Coral Reef Deterioration
The Australian government pushed to soften the wording of a major report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world’s leading climate science authority, to say the Great Barrier Reef is not yet in crisis. It has prompted accusations that the Morrison government had been unscientific, and was trying to play down the damage already being caused by global heating to avoid making deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.
The latest major assessment by the IPCC, released this week, included a section headed: “The Great Barrier Reef is in crisis”. It said the world’s largest coral reef was already heavily affected by climate change, particularly ocean heating, which was leading to more frequent and severe coral bleaching. The 2,300km reef system has endured mass bleaching events in three of the past six years.
A bulletin by the International Institute for Sustainable Development, a global thinktank, said Australian government officials suggested in a meeting about the wording of a report summary that it should say the reef was “not yet in crisis” and “coral reefs are under increasing pressure, but targeted measures and management could reduce risk”. They were supported by officials from Saudi Arabia.
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Guardian Australia last year revealed the government had tried to block the passage of a Unesco recommendation that countries should try to keep global heating to 1.5C to protect world heritage sites such as the reef from the impacts of the climate crisis. Hare said Australian government representatives had also unsuccessfully tried to water down a section of the IPCC report that said ecosystems including some warm water coral reefs were already reaching or surpassing “hard adaptation limits” at which they had limited capacity to adapt to further heating.
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/mar/05/dishonest-morrison-government-wanted-ipcc-to-say-great-barrier-reef-not-yet-in-crisis