Industrialisation of the Great Barrier Reef denounced by World Heritage Committee
Industrialisation of the Great Barrier Reef denounced by World Heritage Committee
Posted on 20 August 2013 |
Australia’s governments are putting the Great Barrier Reef at risk by failing to implement the World Heritage Committee recommendations around rapid industrialization.
The campaign to save Australia’s Great Barrier Reef #fightforthereef was boosted by the UN World Heritage Commission’s decision giving Australia’s Federal and Queensland governments 12 months to ensure pristine areas of the reef are fully protected.
Plans to develop mega-ports to export minerals threaten the integrity and wildlife riches of this world-renowned reef, and the Aus$6billion 60,000 job reef-based tourism sector.
Progress on water quality and farm runoff could be buried under millions of tonnes of seabed material dredged for port development and dumped in the reef. WWF is calling for no further port development until a plan to properly protect the reef is in place.
A Twitter storm in June mobilized millions of people in support of the iconic reef.
http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/successes/?209832/Industrialisation-of-the-Great-Barrier-Reef-denounced-by-World-Heritage-Committee
(Short article, no more at link.)