Unesco has threatened to list the Great Barrier Reef as a World Heritage in Danger site, amid controversy over a plan to dump dredged sediment.

Reef authorities granted permission for the dumping in January as part of a project to create one of the world's biggest coal ports.

But scientists have warned that the sediment could smother or poison coral.

Unesco said given "significant threats" to the reef, it should be considered for inclusion on the danger list.

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral structure, rich in marine life. It stretches for more than 2,600km (1,680 miles) along Australia's eastern coast.

The dumping is part of a major development that would allow several companies to export coal reserves from the Galilee Basin area through the Abbot Point port.

Abbot Point lies south of Townsville on the Queensland coast.

Late last year, the government approved an application for the coal terminal to be expanded. The dredging is needed to allow ships into the port.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-27233810

An independent inquiry into a major dredging project in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area has found environmental conditions on a central Queensland port expansion were too vague to be enforced.

The Federal Government commissioned a scientific inquiry into the Gladstone Port dredging project.

It examined a bund wall that leaked sediment into the harbour from June 2011 to July 2012.

The inquiry has found "aspects of the design and construction of the bund wall were not consistent with industry best practice", and the geotextile layers of the wall eroded under pressure.

The investigation has found water quality monitoring sites in Gladstone were established in the wrong areas, and the federal Environment Department failed to adequately retain compliance records.

It also says environmental conditions imposed by the Commonwealth lacked the specifics necessary to enable their effective enforcement.

Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt will hand down the report this morning.

Fishermen in the Gladstone area have been eagerly awaiting the inquiry's findings.

When the bund wall leaked it coincided with an outbreak of fish disease in the harbour and nearby waterways.

However, a Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry report released in 2013 found that flooding and a large number of fish spilling out from the Awoonga Dam was the main cause of the problem.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-09/bund-wall-inquiry-finds-gladstone-port-conditions-too-vague/5440860

Lachlan Barker continues his explosive investigation into Abbot Pt coal port project, this time showing why – despite official assurances – the dredge spoil is almost certainly a toxic threat to the Great Barrier Reef National Park.

[Read Part One]

[Read Part Two]

[Read Part Three]

THE REPORT HAS NOW BEEN RELEASED on the dredging at Gladstone harbour, and it doesn’t auger well for the dredging, and subsequent dumping of dredge spoil, at Abbot Point, further up the coast at Bowen.

Essentially the problem at Gladstone was a leaking bund wall, built to contain the sediment within the harbour.

However, as Jon Brodie, research scientist with Tropwater, an adjunct of James Cook University described in The Conversation, the problems were vastly more systemic, involving lack of oversight by understaffed government departments.

Wrote Jon Brodie:

'A key part of the Gladstone Harbour dredging program for the A$35 billion Curtis Island liquefied natural gas export hub has failed due to bad construction, inadequate monitoring and poor environmental oversight by state and federal governments.'

And this has ominous overtones for Abbot Point.

What’s more, new concerns – well, actually, old concerns that have been repeatedly ignored – about the toxics load in the Abbot Point dredge spoil can now be revealed.

read more: http://www.independentaustralia.net/environment/environment-display/abbot-point-part-4-coalition-covers-up-toxic-dredge-spoil-danger,6516

Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio said he has 'witnessed environmental devastation first hand' on the Great Barrier Reef. In a powerful speech at the Our Oceans conference in Washington, the actor spoke about diving the Great Barrier Reef over the past 20 years and the coral bleaching and 'dead zones' he saw on a recent visit

see more: http://www.theguardian.com/film/video/2014/jun/18/leo-dicaprio-great-barrier-reef-video

The UN has expressed alarm at Australia’s proposal to dump 3m [3 million] cubic metres of dredged material into the Great Barrier Reef world heritage site, saying the development could place the site on Unesco’s list of shame.

The Australian and Queensland governments have granted approval for dumping as part of the expansion of the Abbot Point coal port, which lies on the fringes of the reef.

At the annual meeting of the Unesco world heritage committee in Doha, delegates “noted with concern” the Abbot Point project. Australia was warned the reef could be added to the World Heritage in Danger list at the next meeting in 2015 if alternative development methods were not considered.

The committee said it: “regrets the state party’s approval for dumping 3m cubic metres of dredge material inside the property prior to having undertaken a comprehensive assessment of alternative and potentially less impacting development and disposal options”.

Conservation groups have said the dumping could irreparably damage the coral. The reef survives on a delicate symbiosis between its plants and animals. Corals provide the skeleton on which the entire ecosystem is built. These interactions are already significantly threatened by the runoff of agricultural chemicals and destruction of increasingly fragile corals by cyclones. In three decades the coral cover on the reef has fallen by 50%.

read more: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jun/18/un-expresses-alarm-about-proposed-dumping-in-great-barrier-reef

The amount of money needed to “offset” the impact of a dredging project on the Great Barrier Reef could be as much as $1bn – which is $998m more than the project developer has suggested.

Documents obtained under freedom of information reveal huge uncertainty over the investment needed to maintain water quality following dredging to expand the Abbot Point port, north of Bowen in Queensland.

In approving the development, which will allow for a greater volume of shipped coal exports, environment minister Greg Hunt stipulated there must be a 150% net benefit in water quality after the dredging.

Several experts, including those from the United Nations, have questioned whether this is viable, with critics claiming that digging up seabed and dumping it within the Great Barrier Reef marine park will smother coral with sediment and kill off marine life.

Internal emails from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority show this task, and its cost, is open to question.

“GBRMPA has done some preliminary cost estimates for water quality offsets and assess that the cost of delivering a genuine net benefit would [be from] $200m to over $1bn depending on assumptions,” one document from June 2013 states.

“Without any indication as to what the proponent or the department view as reasonable, determining whether any proposed offsets are practical and provide a proven net benefit will be problematic.”

These emails contain a warning, revealed earlier this year, that the entire proposal to dump 3m cubic metres of dredged seabed into the marine park is problematic in itself.

The disparity in the amount of money needed to offset sediment dumped into the marine park is revealed in further GBRMPA correspondence from January 2014.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jul/11/great-barrier-reef-impact-from-dredging-could-cost-as-much-as-1bn

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has criticised US president Barack Obama for a speech in Brisbane last weekend in which he claimed climate change threatened the Great Barrier Reef.

Speaking to 7.30 from New York, where she is attending a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, Ms Bishop said "there was an issue regarding [Mr Obama's] statement" and she could "understand the Queensland Government's concern".

In a speech at University of Queensland, Mr Obama had said that: "Here, a climate that increases in temperature will mean more extreme and frequent storms, more flooding, rising seas that submerge Pacific islands ... The incredible natural glory of the Great Barrier Reef is threatened."

Ms Bishop told 7.30: "We are demonstrating world's best practice in working with the World Heritage Committee to ensure that the Great Barrier Reef is preserved for generations to come.

"I think that President Obama might have overlooked that aspect of our commitment to conserving the Great Barrier Reef."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-20/julie-bishop-chides-barack-obama-over-climate-change-remarks/5906570

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Best practice would make sure one does not dump any crap on the reef, that one would stop effluents and fertilisers going to the reef and one would stop selling coal that is INCREASING problems for the reef — including acidification of water and warming of the seas. 

Julie Bishop talks shit. No matter how "best practice" one practice with "commitments" one does not save the reef by pissing on it with more CO2 in the atmosphere. Bishop lives in liars' dreamland.

“And I pointed out that we were working with the heritage committee and with Unesco to ensure that the barrier reef remains as healthy and protected as is humanly possible,” Bishop told the ABC.

“I pointed out that mining and drilling and gas exploration are banned by law from the Great Barrier Reef region and that we had acted to prevent the dumping of capital dredge waste in the marine park. Indeed, [environment] minister Greg Hunt announced that during the World Parks Congress, that we will ban that by law.”

Bishop said the briefing went to specific policy actions Canberra was taking with Queensland “to not only halt but reverse the decline in the quality of water entering the Great Barrier Reef, which is one of the causes of coral degradation”.

She said the Abbott government was very confident current policies would preserve and conserve the reef for generations to come and that was the message she had conveyed during her meeting with Jewell.

Bishop said she was “surprised that it appeared President Obama hadn’t been briefed on that”.

In a separate interview with Sky News, Bishop said the government did not believe the reef was in danger. “Of course, the Great Barrier Reef will be conserved for generations to come,” she said.

The Abbott government has been put on the back foot by the recent announcement that the US and China will work collaboratively to reduce their emissions, and by comments from world leaders during and after the G20 summit highlighting the importance of global action to address climate change, including contributions to the international Green Climate Fund.

read more: http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2014/nov/21/great-barrier-reef-julie-bishop-sent-us-a-briefing-after-obama-criticism

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The REEF IS UNDER THREAT FROM GLOBAL WARMING to which Bishop and Abbott are denying the existence thereof... This was what was pointed out by Barack Obama. Obama did not deny the "conservative" efforts made by the Australian governments, mostly downgraded by the present Abbott regime, but the fact remains: GLOBAL WARMING WILL DESTROY THE REEF... Obama is correct, Bishop is fudging.

Why is no media in this country pointing out that Julie Bishop is presenting the wrong case against what Obama said? Obama said that global warming will affect the reef... Julie is pointing out at the Tony Turdy government small "fiddles of conservation" THAT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH SOLVING THE IMPACT FROM GLOBAL WARMING... OBAMA IS CORRECT. JULIE IN AN EMBARRASSMENT to this country by challenging Obama on different levels.

The only way to stop the degradation of the reef from THE IMPACT OF GLOBAL WARMING is to have fast efficient drastic CO2 reduction programs. All the Abbott regime is doing in this regard is equivalent to ZERO, NADA, NOTHING apart from lining the pockets of polluters...

Prime Minister Tony Abbott's apparent, if modest, conversion to the idea that climate change was an "important subject"  following talks with French president Francois Hollande on Wednesday was greeted with no small measure of cynicism.

This was, after all, a politician who had built a political career on climate scepticism, with his famous remark in 2010 that it was "absolute crap" to assert the science was settled.

It took only two days, but the doubters can claim vindication after revelations that the government sent a briefing note to Barack Obama to dissuade him that the Great Barrier Reef was under threat by climate change.

“I don’t think others should be coming and lecturing us on climate change,” he said. “[The speech] gave no sense of the first world, high-class efforts that Australia is making successfully on that issue.”

Robb said the speech unfairly highlighted the issue of climate change, which wasn’t the focus of the G20 meeting.

“There had been 12 months of work gone into shifting the focus of the G20 to greater growth, sustainable growth.”

But he wouldn’t be drawn on whether he thought Obama had shown a deliberate disregard for the Abbott government, saying that the two governments had worked well together on a number of key issues over the last year.

Australia’s attempts to keep climate change off the G20 agenda were hijacked by the announcement of a climate deal between the US and China in the lead up to the high-profile leaders’ meeting.

A final communique by the leaders included a call for all countries to contribute to the international green climate fund, a call previously rejected by Australian prime minister Tony Abbott.

read more: http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2014/nov/23/andrew-robb-obama-misinformed-in-unnecessary-great-barrier-reef-speech

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There cannot be any "economic" progress on the planet unless global warming is now included in the "economic" equation — as well as the aspect of protecting the planet from more degradation under exploitation for profit. Abbott, Bishop and now Robb are blind rats living in the dark sewers of grubby politics. Thye have no idea of the damage they are doing to the planet, though I think they actually know... but they don't care. They only want to sell more coal, make your life a misery and fill the pockets of their rich mates. When will they learn something scientific?

Global warming is a BIG PROBLEM that won't go away — especially when it's going to be the only real GROWTH to happen should Abbott wish for selling more coal resulting in MORE EMISSIONS OF CO2... Abbott, Bishop and Robb are all ignoramuses of science. The Australian people are fed up with these stupid clowns who don't know what they're talking about.

Should the waters of the great barrier reef warm up beyond a critical point under global warming, it will be good bye reef... Since the 1970s, it appears that the reef has degraded by about 40 per cent...

An Australian Government publication shows that senior Abbott Government Ministers Julie Bishop and Andrew Robb are totally wrong in criticising U.S. President Barack Obama for his Great Barrier Reef warning.

The Australian Government research paper found that 'reducing the amount of climate change is the single most effective way of minimising negative impacts' on the Great Barrier Reef.

The paper, published in 2007, says:

'Even under the most optimistic climate change scenarios, the GBR is destined for significant change over this century; under pessimistic scenarios, catastrophic impacts are possible.'

And:

'This vulnerability assessment confirms that increasing sea temperature is the single biggest risk factor for the GBR over the short to mid-term (years to decades) .... Sea temperature increases are the major cause of the predicted decline in coral communities over the current century, with flow-on effects through the entire ecosystem.'

https://independentaustralia.net/environment/environment-display/government-research-paper-sinks-julie-bishops-reef-attack-on-obama,7121

The World Bank will invest heavily in clean energy and only fund coal projects in “circumstances of extreme need” because climate change will undermine efforts to eliminate extreme poverty, says its president Jim Yong Kim.

Talking ahead of a UN climate summit in Peru next month, Kim said he was alarmed by World Bank-commissioned research from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, which said that as a result of past greenhouse gas emissions the world is condemned to unprecedented weather events.

read more: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/nov/23/world-bank-to-focus-future-investment-on-clean-energy

http://www-wds.worldbank.org/DF/927040v10WP00O0sh0Executive0Summary.pdf

...

"What this bill will do is allow for an over-allocation of water out of Great Barrier Reef Catchment systems," Ms Trad said.

"If you have less water going into the reef that means the concentrated level of run-off will be quite severe."

A government source told the ABC that 82 new clauses would be added to the 427-page bill today. The Opposition received an oral briefing on the new amendments at lunchtime, but had yet to receive any new written material.

The LNP government has previously been criticised for introducing late amendments to complex natural resources-related legislation.

In its submission to the committee last month, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority warned that allocating water to large users without proper assessment of the cumulative environmental impacts "may lead to unacceptable impacts to coastal waterways and Great Barrier Reef ecosystems".

The Queensland Resources Council, which represents the coal industry, said it supported the LNP Government's policy goal, but described the bill as an "ambitious, complex and substantial piece of legislation" and warned that "proceeding on the current accelerated timeline is to accept a second-best policy development process".

"All water users have been accustomed to deep and on-going consultation at a catchment level, which has simply not been possible in the time allowed for the development of this bill," the QRC wrote in the submission.

"Some otherwise laudable reforms risk being undermined by their hasty implementation."

Mr Cripps disagreed with the QRC. There had been "extensive consultation" with peak bodies, he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-25/qld-plan-to-let-miners-take-billions-of-litres-of-water/5916740

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Which "peak bodies" were "extensively consulted"? The Mining and Defoliation of Countryside (MDC)? The Bulldozer and Grader Association (BGA)? The Dig-a-Dig Deep Holes Consortium (DDDHC)? The Coal and Gas Forever Pumpers (CGFP)? The Concrete Everything Till it Stops Looking Green Chapter (CETSLGC)?

But overall did they "extensively consult" with Madame Julie Bishop? She might get upset that they'd be doing something that is contrary to what she was pointing out in her "Obama rebuke"...?

All of these people are monsters and brutal destroyers of nature... And do "peak bodies" live on top of mountains like blind gurus?