UN team to examine threat to Great Barrier Reef
A delegation from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has arrived in Australia with the task of investigating possible damage to the world-famous Great Barrier Reef. It is feared that a combination of oil and gas exploration and an increase in Australia's coal exports (with accordant implications for an increase in shipping traffic) could put the integrity of the Reef in jeopardy. The UNESCO team is due to meet representatives of the Australian government and visit the Reef in person before submitting their recommendations to the World Heritage Committee.
The Great Barrier Reef is the largest Coral Reef system in the world and is so large it can be seen from Earth orbit. It also supports a spectacularly diverse array of oceanic life, and sightings have been recorded of thirty species of whales, dolphins and porpoises, six species of sea turtle, 125 species of chimaera, skates, stingray and shark, approximately 5,000 species of mollusc and 1,500 species of fish. A further 1.4-1.7 million birds of varying species use the Reef as a breeding ground.
Commenting, Greenpeace Australia Pacific's Senior Climate and Energy Campaigner John Hepburn said "The Great Barrier Reef is in danger from the coal industry and the fossil fuel boom that is happening, but it is a reckless expansion that will have direct impacts both in terms of the dredging as well as the increased shipping, as well as the impact of climate change on the Great Barrier Reef."
