MORE protection is needed to reduce the impact of climate change on the Great Barrier Reef, a major international study on three World Heritage sites has revealed.
The study, published in the academic journal Science, found the local environmental protections for each region were at risk of failing for the Reef, South America’s Amazon and Spain’s Donana wetlands.
Researchers including Australian reef expert Professor Terry Hughes contributed to the report that showed Australia was failing in its “stewardship” of the Great Barrier Reef, despite solid scientific evidence for the need for greater protections.
While climate change was cited as the top risk to the reef’s future, it was being exacerbated by poor water quality, ocean acidification, agricultural chemical run-off and dredging for port developments.
The report said local management for each World Heritage site was “worrisome” and eroding the capacity for the three regions to function normally as ecosystems.
Prof Hughes told ABC Radio on Friday there was a stark choice for the Federal Government – if coal mines planned for the Galilee Basin went ahead, protecting the reef was an “impossible task”.
From a broken chain sitting in a drawer to a bold statement piece in the window, Airlie Beach Gold Buyers welcomes customers with a straightforward approach to buying and selling gold. The locally owned business specialises in buying silver and gold, while also offering a carefully selected range of jewellery and bullion. At its core … […]
Regional luxury gets discussed as one market. A vineyard in the Barossa and a beachfront in Palm Cove fall under the same umbrella, but the buyers, the demand drivers and, over the past decade, the results are not uniform. Australia’s regional luxury housing market is often discussed as though it were a single market. In … […]