2 August 2023, The Guardian: Australia is not being ‘singled out’ by Unesco’s in-danger recommendation for the Great Barrier Reef. Australia has the wealth, technology and resources to sharply reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Until this happens, it is not doing all it can to protect the reef. The latest update from Unesco on the Great Barrier Reef world heritage area has been widely misreported as a decision to not place the reef on the world heritage “in danger” list. In reality, Unesco has simply postponed the next consideration of an in-danger listing until the 2024 meeting of the world heritage committee. Unesco has acknowledged some recent improvements reported to them by the commonwealth and Queensland governments, such as a promised ban on gill nets as well as some additional investments in culling starfish and small-scale reef restoration. But buried deep within the diplomatic language of Unesco’s latest assessment is an acknowledgment of the slow speed of progress being made on meeting targets for reducing coastal pollution, and of Australia’s inadequate responses to the escalating impacts of climate change. Read more here
Category Archives: Ecosystem Stress
1 August 2023, The Conversation: Antarctica is missing a chunk of sea ice bigger than Greenland – what’s going on? Deadly heatwaves, raging wildfires and record global temperatures are upon us. But far from the flames, at the southernmost tip of the planet, something … Continue reading →
13 July 2022, The Guardian: Australia’s farcical climate policy: market forces to cut emissions and subsidies to destroy carbon sinks. Our federal government pays some people to protect native forests, while state governments pay others to cut them down. he climate crisis … Continue reading →
21 March 2022, The Guardian: Antarctic areas reach 40C above normal at same time as north pole regions hit 30C above usual levels. Startling heatwaves at both of Earth’s poles are causing alarm among climate scientists, who have warned the “unprecedented” … Continue reading →