#Australia great barrier reef pdf
View case as PDF: Great Barrier Reef – Tribunal Case PDF Read the Case Study and threats to the Great Barrier Reef at: Great Barrier Reef Case. PNAS 109(44) 17995-17999 Presented by Michelle Maloney, National Convenor, Australian Earth Laws Alliance
“The 27 year decline of coral cover on the Great Barrier Reef and its causes”. De’ath G, Fabricius KE, Sweatman H, Puotinen M. Tropical cyclones, coral predation by crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS), and coral bleaching accounted for 48%, 42%, and 10% of the respective estimated losses of coral over the years 1985 to 2012. The expansion of new and existing coal ports on the coastline (used to ship coal from Australia to other countries) is seriously threatening the health of the reef – so too are the increases in shipping volume and activities such as dredging and especially sediment from agricultural runoff. UNESCO warned that if the planned developments continued, the GBR might have to be named on the ‘World Heritage in Danger’ list. In June 2011, UNESCO issued, for the very first time, a warning to the Australian government that the GBR was under threat of significant damage from the escalation of coal port expansions and other industrial developments along the coastline adjacent to the reef. This tourism brings $AU3 billion into the Australian economy every year. It is a major tourist destination for international and Australian years, and in the year ending December 2012, 1.99 million tourist visitor days were calculated. Until very recently, it was considered a pristine natural ecosystem. It was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Property of Value in 1981. The Great Barrier Reef was listed by Australia as a National Park in 1975 and covers 344,400 km in area. The GBR is also unique as it extends over 14 degrees of latitude, from shallow estuarine areas to deep oceanic waters. It supports a vast array of marine creatures, including 1625 species of fish, 600 types of soft and hard corals, more than 100 species of jellyfish, 133 varieties of sharks and rays, more than 30 species of whales and dolphins and 3,000 species of molluscs. It is comprised of 3000 individual reef systems and coral cays and almost 900 beautiful tropical islands.
It runs for 2,300 kilometres, from the Torres Strait Islands, at the most northern tip of Australia, south to Bundaberg along the coastline of the Australian state of Queensland. It is the world’s biggest single structure made by living organisms and can be seen from outerspace. The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is the world’s largest coral reef system.
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