2023-08-02 14:11:00
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The Great Barrier Reef is not on the World Heritage List in Danger for the time being. Australia’s commodity lobby rejoices.
As recently as last November, UN experts recommended adding the badly battered coral reef to the list of endangered UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Because the Great Barrier Reef has been suffering from the consequences of climate change and water pollution for many years. According to experts, around half of the corals have died off in the last 30 years.
This is an average value. The damage to the 2,300-kilometer accumulation of individual reefs varies depending on the water temperature – the warmer, the more extensive the damage. The reef as a whole is undoubtedly in its death throes.
Unesco’s current decision to wait another year before adding it to the list is all the more astonishing, in order to give Australia a little more time for further protective measures. According to the unanimous opinion of the experts, this is due to the successful lobbying of the Australian government.
They claimed that they were already doing a great deal to combat coral bleaching, whether it was the inflow of toxic sewage or the fight once morest the coral-eating starfish, which are an additional burden on the reef.
Coal is also a priority under the new government
However, the measures are a drop in the bucket, because only a limitation of global temperatures might possibly save the reef. This is done by immediately abandoning the use of fossil fuels such as coal and gas.
Caption: The Great Barrier Reef suffers varying degrees of damage depending on the region: school of fish in the coral of Moore Reef off the coast of Queensland in eastern Australia. Keystone/AP Photo/Sam McNeil
Regardless, Australia’s new Social Democrat government under Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recently approved three new coal mines, and over 100 more coal and gas projects are planned. And this despite the election promise to stand out from the conservative previous government in climate policy.
Caption: Pictured: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Keystone/EPA/MICK TSIKAS
Tax money and taxes from the raw materials industry are too important. In contrast, the approximately 60,000 endangered jobs in reef tourism have a difficult time.
Bad forecasts for the reef
Almost all experts agree that the reef will be dead in 50 years if global warming continues at the same rate. The speed at which the death spiral is turning is terrifying.
Legend: The Great Barrier Reef has been suffering from the effects of climate change and water pollution for many years. Keystone/(AP Photo/Sam McNeil)
During my dives in the Great Barrier Reef at the end of the 1980s it was still crystal clear and full of colorful fish like in a zoo aquarium, today you glide over huge fields of dead coral, slimed with brown algae and almost lifeless. The sight brings tears to your eyes even under water.
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