Great Barrier Reef at Risk
by staff report via baz - AFP Saturday, Jun 2 2012, 2:03am
international /
environment /
other press
Trust is lost as Oz governments abandon duty of care
Have no doubts regarding which interests Oz governments serve today. Everyone seems to be benefiting from the Oz mining boom except the Australian people! Billions in profits are siphoned off for corporate elites, Transnationals and Banks but precious little goes into necessary services and infrastructure. Substandard Oz health and dental services continue to suffer due to lack of 'available' funds -- a very odd scenario despite the FACT that it is the PEOPLE that legally OWN the nation's natural wealth.
Indeed, the nation is being raped by mining Transnationals, Banks and various other large Corporate concerns. And what is our democratically elected 'representative' government doing to restore social balance -- ASSISTING THE EXPLOITERS and resource RAPISTS, of course!
It''s not enough that Canberra allows the wholesale pillage of our FINITE resources with minimal benefit going to the public, the current lackey PM, Juliar Gillard has, for the express benefit of Bankers and Big Business, BURDENED the public with an environmentally ineffective Carbon TAX that will increase the price of EVERYTHING across the board, thanks, JuLIAR!
To add to the existing horrendous social injury and injustice we now have information that the TOXIC 'fracking' -- coal seam gas -- mania and mining boom will have a devastating impact on our Barrier Reef, a natural wonder of the world and a huge long term tourist income earner for the nation! 'Well done' you unrepresentative political lackeys in Canberra and corporate controlled State governments.
What's more, it was foreigners, UNESCO, that informed Oz of the danger to OUR reef -- which is indicative of where the focus of our thoroughly incompetent, lackey politicians is fixed; a disgusting situation by third world let alone first world standards.
But since Keating's selling of our sovereignty/currency to Wall Street and servile to America, war criminal, Howard, through Rudd and finally to staggeringly inept, reviled Washington doormat, Gillard, the nation has been going BACKWARDS at speed.
So now the nation faces the COST of Oz apathy; say goodbye to our Barrier Reef cos the profit-only-driven Corporations couldn't give a shit, they are having a field day.
After all, what are democratic elections for but to vote LYING, frauds into office that serve minority interests only -- neither the Labor or Liberal parties had any idea of the dangers to our Barrier Reef that mining and fracking (CSG) posed, bloody brilliant!
Report from AFP follows:
Great Barrier Reef heading for danger: UNESCO
SYDNEY — UNESCO on Saturday urged decisive action from Australia to protect the Great Barrier Reef from a gas and mining boom, warning it risked being put on its list of world heritage sites deemed "in danger".
Australia is riding an unprecedented wave of resources investment due to booming demand from Asia, with projects worth Aus$450 billion (US$435 billion) in the pipeline.
The world's largest coral reef is not yet at sufficient risk to be declared in danger but UNESCO said the sheer number and scale of proposals including liquefied natural gas (LNG), tourism and mining projects could threaten it.
Declining water quality and climate change were the major threats and it was "essential to reduce development and other pressures as much as possible to enable an increase in the reef's resilience", UNESCO's World Heritage Committee said.
The committee said it would recommend the reef be put on the "in danger" list if some of the biggest projects went ahead.
A UNESCO mission that toured the reef in March to assess the impacts of an LNG project on Curtis Island said it had found an "unprecedented" development boom in the region with serious conservation risks.
"The outstanding universal value of the property is threatened and decisive action is required to secure its long-term conservation," the committee warned.
"The rapid increase of coastal developments, including ports infrastructure is of significant concern."
Gladstone Harbour -- a coal export hub with huge shipments to Japan, India, South Korea and China -- is undergoing a major expansion requiring dredging works which activists say is harming marine life.
UNESCO said environmental conditions stipulated by the government at Gladstone and Curtis Island, a mammoth LNG project targeting annual production of 12 million tonnes, were not tough enough to protect the reef.
It urged a "highly precautionary" approach toward new coastal and port development in the reef zone until a conservation plan had been mapped.
"Such an approach implies that (Australia) should not permit any new port development or associated infrastructure outside of the existing and long-established major port areas within and adjoining the property," UNESCO said.
© 2012 AFP