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Queensland. Beautiful one day. No reef, the next

Queensland. Beautiful one day. No reef, the next

It's been a very very ordinary month for announcements about the health of Queensland assets

First came the Climate Council report declaring that Queensland is on the frontline of climate change, with 65% of the state drought declared, with parts of the west and south have been in drought for more than 6 years. Years of drought are taking their toll on both farmlands and Queensland's natural assets.

Coupled with the facts that by far the majority of damage from rising sea levels is pegged to impact areas like the Gold Coast and that much of Queensland's economy is reliant on tourism and agriculture, it's not exactly a rosy picture.

And to add insult to the list of disasters, an Australian Government review released late August 2019, cited the Great Barrier Reef's condition as 'very poor'. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority published a position statement on climate change as an output from the report: 


"CLIMATE CHANGE IS THE GREATEST THREAT TO THE GREAT BARRIER REEF. ONLY THE STRONGEST AND FASTEST POSSIBLE ACTIONS TO DECREASE GLOBAL GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS WILL REDUCE THE RISKS AND LIMIT THE IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON THE REEF. FURTHER IMPACTS CAN BE MINIMISED BY LIMITING GLOBAL TEMPERATURE INCREASE TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT POSSIBLE AND FAST-TRACKING ACTIONS TO BUILD REEF RESILIENCE."


The reef is in unprecedented decline with widespread impacts of climate change and rising temperatures clearly evident in the northern two-thirds of the Marine Park after two consecutive years of mass coral bleaching in 2016 and 2017. Loss of coral also means loss of associated marine life and together with the impacts of 11 severe tropical  cyclones since 2005, the health of the Reef is very poor.

Thetford Reef near Cairns. 2016 before coral bleaching 

Thetford Reef near Cairns. 2017 after coral bleaching  

It's is hard to imagine how we have any chance of coming back from this position, even with the best intentions as the only potential cure requires global cooperation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Given Australia is one of the biggest per capita emitters, it seems a bit rich to ask for help for something we seem to be completely disinterested in doing ourselves.



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