Australia has said it will spend A $ 1bn ($ 700m) on new security measures on the Great Barrier Reef, seven months after the UN threatened to place the site on a “risk list” due to climate change and development.
The federal government of Prime Minister Scott Morrison has pledged to improve water management, tackle illegal fishing and reduce the risk of starfish ahead of the federal elections scheduled for May 21.
Queensland, an area on the Great Barrier Reef, is crucial to the government’s decision. Other states, including Leichhardt, which includes Cairns, the coastal entrance, are seen as seats for the opposition Labor Party, and about 64,000 jobs are linked to the site.
Australia cried to fight last year by Unesco, which planned to put rocks on their risk list to take action to protect the 2,300km reserve from climate change and development. Studies show that the extinction of the oceans has been linked to global warming. very confusingcausing damage to the rocky outcrops.
Boma coercion against move but the conflict put the health of the rocks on a global show. Unesco management needs to monitor the site regularly to see if it is at risk.
The government has announced that the new budget will cover a total of $ 3bn to protect the lake by 2050. The Labor Party has pledged $ 163m for stone protection this month.
“We are supporting coastal health and the economic future of tourism, hospitality and Queensland communities in the middle of the maritime economy,” Morrison said.
But this commitment has not solved the concerns of environmentalists, who have long criticized the government for its policies of climate change.
Terri Butler, Minister of Environment and Water Affairs, said the plan was an acknowledgment that the government had not done enough to protect the lake. “They are not ready to take any action on climate change, which means they are not prepared to stand on the beach,” he said.
Jodie Rummer, a marine biologist at James Cook University, said the government’s response was inadequate because it ignored climate change, which he described as a “first threat”.
“It could be that you are in a serious car accident and you have a nerve injury, and you are bleeding from your veins, and the doctors are showing up and want to put a little Band-Aids on the wounds and bruises on your foot,” said Rummer, who specializes in climate change on rocks.
The Australian Government is committed to achieving this Net zero emissions by 2050 Ahead of the COP26 conference in Glasgow last November. But critics argue that its environmental policies are not in line with the goals of global climate cooperation.
Rummer said warm weather that he did not expect to see until 2050 or 2100 “is happening now”. He added that major cases of coral bleaching as a result of global warming in the last five years it has hit 98 percent of the rocks.
Bleeding occurs when warm weather forces the algae away from the coral, removing its food sources and eventually killing them.
Climate Capital
Where climate change meets business, markets and politics. See FT articles here.
Would you like to know what FT promises for environmental stewardship? Learn more about our science-based goals here
Source link
