{"id":271186,"date":"2023-08-03T13:58:32","date_gmt":"2023-08-03T11:58:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=271186"},"modified":"2023-08-03T13:58:35","modified_gmt":"2023-08-03T11:58:35","slug":"great-barrier-reef-a-story-of-activist-histrionics-and-genuine-progress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=271186","title":{"rendered":"Great Barrier Reef: A Story of Activist Histrionics and Genuine Progress"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Great Barrier Reef will not be recommended for inclusion on the \u201cin danger\u201d list this year by the United Nation\u2019s world heritage body<\/strong>.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Danger Listing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let the caterwauling commence<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

The property recorded the highest level of hard coral cover in the northern and central regions in<\/em>
36 years of monitoring; a new target of 43% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 has<\/em>
been agreed [irrelevant nonsense ~cr]; funding has been made available to scale up work on coastal restoration to achieve water quality improvements; participation of Traditional Owners in the management of the property has been increased; fisheries management has been improved; and new techniques to restore coral reef habitat have been developed.<\/em><\/p>\nhttps:\/\/whc.unesco.org\/archive\/2023\/whc23-45com-7B.Add-en.pdf#page26<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The UNESCO World Heritage Centre\u2019s recent report on the Great Barrier Reef\u2019s conservation status seems to have missed the mark for some, igniting a dramatic outcry from the usual quarters of Climate Change activism. Despite improvements in the Reef\u2019s condition since 2019, activists seem more interested in stirring up alarmist rhetoric than acknowledging the practical steps that have been taken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the report, the Australian government\u2019s efforts in improving fishery management, conserving critical habitats, reducing pollution, and committing significant funding to the Reef\u2019s long-term sustainability, have started to pay off. What\u2019s more, the report applauds the concrete and effective work that has been done so far \u2013 a fact that critics seem all too ready to dismiss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Additional water quality investments have been committed that, along with existing investments,<\/em>
provide funding certainty until 2030 to scale up land restoration and water quality improvements.<\/em>
These include, among others, an AUS$253 million budget uplift for the property\u2019s lead<\/em>
management agency, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority; AUS$ 262.5 million for land<\/em>
acquisitions and capital work to improve vegetation management; and a minimum of AUS$ 100<\/em>
million for reef protection and restoration with Traditional Owners;<\/em><\/p>\nhttps:\/\/whc.unesco.org\/archive\/2023\/whc23-45com-7B.Add-en.pdf#page26<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, the outcry from Climate Change activists has been predictably vocal, with many interpreting the report through a doom-and-gloom lens that favors cataclysmic conclusions over an appreciation for pragmatic progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One such critic, Terry Hughes, director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University,\u00a0suggests that UNESCO merely \u201ckicked the can down the road\u201d\u00a0<\/a>by delaying the next assessment on listing the Reef as \u201cin danger\u201d. His perspective seems to place more emphasis on climate calamity rather than acknowledging the tangible efforts in fishery management, a crucial component of ecosystem conservation that the UNESCO report clearly acknowledges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, David Booth, professor of Marine Ecology at UTS and president of the Australian Coral Reef Society, points to an apparent contradiction between the government\u2019s stated efforts to protect the reef and its approval for new fossil fuel projects.\u00a0He goes on to demand that the Federal Government should \u201cstop all coal and gas production and export\u201d<\/a>. Unfortunately, his view is a typically simplistic take on a complex problem, and seems to ignore the fact that transitioning away from fossil fuels is not as simple as flicking a switch or how disastrous such an effort would be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jodie Rummer, a professor of Marine Biology at James Cook University,\u00a0added her voice to the chorus, claiming that the \u201cin danger\u201d listing was \u201cirrelevant\u201d<\/a>. Interestingly, there is some truth to her statement, but not the way she intends. What\u2019s more important are the pragmatic actions being taken to protect the Reef, not the listing of it. However, her plea to phase out fossil fuels this decade is as ridiculous as it is irrelevant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s easy to get caught up in the histrionics of activists who make a living from predicting the worst, but we must not overlook the substantial progress made.\u00a0From 2019, the reef has shown signs of recovery. Fishery management has improved, pollution has been reduced, and substantial funding has been dedicated to its preservation.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So rather than indulging the unhinged alarmist narratives, let\u2019s applaud the tangible and functional steps being taken. The small victories add up, and perfection, as the saying goes, is the enemy of the good. The Great Barrier Reef may be an ecosystem under pressure, but it\u2019s far from the end of days that some activists would have us believe. Let\u2019s focus on the progress made and keep working towards sustainable, realistic solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

H\/T steveg<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

For more information on Coral Reefs go to the corals page on EverythingClimate.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or consider\u00a0viewing a lecture on the subject by Peter Ridd on our ClimateTV page<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The UNESCO World Heritage Centre\u2019s recent report on the Great Barrier Reef\u2019s conservation status seems to have missed the mark for some, igniting a dramatic outcry from the usual quarters of Climate Change activism. Despite improvements in the Reef\u2019s condition since 2019, activists seem more interested in stirring up alarmist rhetoric than acknowledging the practical steps that have been taken.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":271200,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691821567,691820818,691818056,691818100,691821568],"class_list":{"0":"post-271186","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-alarmist-rhetoric","9":"tag-australian-government","10":"tag-climate-change","11":"tag-great-barrier-reef","12":"tag-unesco-world-heritage","14":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/0-Great-Barrier-Reef.jpg?fit=1547%2C871&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-18xY","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":231769,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=231769","url_meta":{"origin":271186,"position":0},"title":"Wrong, 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