The Australian government鈥檚 plan to maintain the quality of the Great Barrier Reef is doomed to failure.
That鈥檚 the opinion of the Australian Academy of Science, the country鈥檚 equivalent of the Royal Society of London. In a to the government鈥檚 draft Reef 2050 Long-Term Sustainability Plan, the academy as 鈥渋nadequate to achieve the goal of restoring or even maintaining the diminished Outstanding Universal Value of the Reef鈥�.
Although the document acknowledges climate change and other dangers like dredging and agricultural run-off, it fails to provide effective solutions to address any of these pressures, the response says.
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鈥淚t is more than disappointing to see that the biggest threat to the reef 鈥� climate change 鈥� is virtually ignored in this plan,鈥� says Academy Fellow Terry Hughes from James Cook University in Queensland, Australia.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not even possible to maintain the current degraded state of the reef without people doing something about climate change,鈥� says Jon Brodie, also from James Cook University, who helped write some of the report. He says the plan needs a clear statement that the aims are 鈥渋mpossible鈥� unless climate change is addressed.
Impossible targets
The plan doesn鈥檛 question the need for four port expansions that will involve dredging inside the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, and only prohibits dredging for any ports additional to these. Brodie says the plan should have insisted the preference for port building inside the world heritage area to involve no dredging 鈥� which can be achieved using long jetties as an alternative. In some places that won鈥檛 be possible, but in those cases Brodie says the plan should include a discussion of options for what to do with the spoil.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a really pathetic effort on the ports, let鈥檚 face it,鈥� says Brodie.
The only numerical targets in the plan are 2018 targets for reducing agricultural run-off. But those numbers are arbitrary and have no ecological significance. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no scientific connection there,鈥� he says. What鈥檚 more, Brodie points out the Queensland government plans to double its agricultural output by 2040, which will make even those targets impossible to meet.
Overall, Brodie says the main problem with the plan is that it doesn鈥檛 accept that the reef is in decline. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 nonsense and was contradicted by the [Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority鈥檚]
