Poor water quality, coastal development, and climate change have been significant factors in killing off half of the coral in the Great Barrier Reef… in only 27 years. This article discusses the interplay by governments, international groups, and conservation movements in creating environmental policy.
Firstly, it took action from the UN for Australia to be woken up about what they needed to be doing to save the reef. When the UN hinted that the Reef would be reclassified as a “World Heritage in Danger in 2015″, Australia issued a 35 year plan to manage risks.
Secondly, the Australian government relied on contributions from conservation groups like WWF-Australia to even come up with policy. Then of course, they didn’t take the recommendations as far as they should have. The plan will manage sea-life, improve water quality, and wants to limit runoff from farms getting into the water. As great as this sounds, WWF-Australia stated that billions of dollars was needed to fix these problems… and Australia doesn’t seem to want to budge. For example, the area is coal-rich and 30,000 jobs are estimated to be created if mining becomes operational.
Why don’t the UN and environmental groups have greater power over policy than big business does? Is it a problem stemming off of corporate personhood and conglomerate international business?
This is a horrible problem! While I was in China I had a long conversation with two Australian students. They talked about how their last Prime Minister was really into environmental protection but he was hurting the economy. So when their new Minister came in he went in the opposite direction. He has no regard for the environment and is working with China to provide them with more coal. The students said that this deal has been kept under the radar(media wise) because it would result in the acceleration of Great Barrier Reef distraction.
It so sad. I hope I will be able to visit the Reef before it is gone. Or even better, work on something to help save it.