Greenpeace says the government’s support of planned coal port expansions - which would lead to more coal ships travelling through the Great Barrier Reef and more dredging - will have direct individual and cumulative impacts on the Reef, one of the world’s natural wonders.
“Rather than doing everything it can to save the Great Barrier Reef, the government is aggressively promoting coal port expansion, which poses direct threats to the Reef and will drive climate change. The coal expansion plans, including the Adani coal mine, are irreconcilable with the government’s international responsibility to protect the Reef and should be abandoned,” Greenpeace campaigner Jessica Panegyres said.
“Port expansions and increased shipping negatively affect coral, seagrass, dugongs, turtles and other marine life – species that make the Great Barrier Reef a natural wonder,” she said.
The health of the Great Barrier Reef is already in decline - 50% of the Reef’s coral cover has disappeared in the past 30 years. Greenpeace says Australia should be doing everything possible to restore the Reef’s health and unless the government markedly steps up its conservation efforts, including rejecting coal and port expansion plans, it will not have avoided the need for an ‘in danger’ listing.
“The Abbott government has a two-faced attitude towards the Great Barrier Reef. With one breath, they say they care about the Reef, with the other, they push through coal export projects that put the Reef at risk. Not only is the government failing to protect the Reef, it is also letting down the Australian people and hard-working communities who rely on the Reef’s health for their livelihoods,” Panegyres added.
In a submission lodged with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Greenpeace said that the approval of coal port expansions such as those at Abbot Point have occurred in contravention of UNESCO’s advice that no projects be approved that impact on the Outstanding Universal Value of the Reef.
Greenpeace’s submission notes that 24 out of the 41 metrics or attributes that comprise the Outstanding Universal Value have deteriorated since the Reef’s inclusion on the World Heritage list in 1981.
“The Great Barrier Reef is a unique place of beauty enjoyed by millions of people every year. If we’re to preserve the Reef for future generations, the Abbott government really needs to up its game at this critical moment for the Reef’s future,’ Panegyres said.
Please find Greenpeace's submission to the IUCN attached.
For interviews or more information, contact:
In Sydney: Elsa Evers on +61 (0) 438 204 041, Jessica Panegyres on +61 (0) 424 090 396
In Brisbane: Shani Tager on +61 (0) 432 050 809 In Amsterdam: Leanne Minshull +31 (0) 6 4616 2025
Video footage and photographs of the Great Barrier Reef and coal expansions available here: http://www.greenpeacemedia.org/main.php?g2_itemId=19586
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