The Great Barrier Reef Battleplan

Hi, and welcome! One of my clients who I have been teaching blogging to just emailed this article to me!
I talks about watching the showon the ABC and some of us may be a little late to see that after reading this!
Anyway check the article below and see what maybe you could do?
Like sign the partition!
Thanks
Marty

 Save the reef!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Millions of cubic metres of sea floor is being removed from the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area right now. It's the largest dredging project ever undertaken in Australia, making way for massive new coal seam gas export facilities.

This massive industrial activity is damaging the Great Barrier Reef and threatens its status as a World Heritage Site. Sign the emergency petition now!

• The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef in the world and is recognised as a global treasure, due to the amazing biodiversity which it sustains and it's unparalleled beauty.
• The Great Barrier Reef is one of the 7 Wonders of the Natural World.
• The reef brings in billions of dollars of economic activity every year and supports tens of thousands of jobs in tourism and the fishing industry.
• The largest dredging project ever undertaken in Australia was approved to occur within the Great Barrier Reef WHA, at Gladstone Harbour, and is slated to remove a total of around 50 million cubic metres of soil.
• The ecosystem of the GBR is already very fragile and is facing total collapse with the added pressure of the dredging, which releases toxic chemicals into the sea.
• In the past 6 months (the first stage of dredging) there has been a steep increase in deaths of endangered marine wildlife - 6 dolphins, 10 dugongs and 231 turtles have washed up dead near Gladstone on the Great Barrier Reef.
• Fishermen and their families have been getting sick and have noticed that many of the fish have washed up with a strange flesh disease.
• The Australian government failed to inform UNESCO of the approval of the gas facilities in the Great Barrier Reef WHA.

http://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/coal-seam-gas/great-barrier-reef/save-the-reef?t=dXNlcmlkPTczNjIzMixlbWFpbGlkPTQ0Ng%3D%3D

----- Original Message -----

From: GetUp!

To: Sent: Monday, November 07, 2011 7:20 PM

Subject: On your TV tonight

Breaking: tune in to ABC's Four Corners at 8:30pm tonight - and sign the emergency petition to stop the destruction of the Great Barrier Reef now.


If you tune in to Four Corner's tonight you'll see a truly shocking story about the destruction of huge swathes of our Great Barrier Reef. Not to spoil the plot, but... Millions of cubic metres of sea floor are being drudged up from the Great Barrier Reef to make way for massive new coal seem gas export facilities. No, we're not kidding.

It's the largest dredging project ever undertaken in Australia, and one that has the United Nations' Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) so alarmed they're warning the Reef could lose its iconic world heritage status. We've created an emergency petition to stop this. Sign here, tune in and spread the word now.

SIGN THE PARTITION CLICK THE LINK BELOW NOW 

www.getup.org.au/dredging-the-reef

As The Age recently put it- what's of primary concern is the "vast dredging program" associated with the construction of three coal seam gas plants located inside the reef's World Heritage area. "The Gladstone Ports Corporation (GPC) has approvals to dredge 46 million cubic metres from within the harbour boundaries, inside the World Heritage area, over the next 20 years...a volume equivalent to 27 Melbourne Cricket Grounds." ¹

Environment Minister Tony Burke has so far refused to stand up for the Reef, a priceless and fragile site of significance not just to Australia, but to the world. Imagine if the Pyramids were being bulldozed or the Grand Canyon mined -- the global community would be furious. Well UNESCO is furious. They're sending a special delegation in March to inspect the mining sites at the Reef, but that's too late to stop the damage happening now.

Meanwhile, UNESCO are being lobbied hard by the insatiable coal seam gas industry. And although they failed to even tell UNESCO about the project, the state and federal governments would have us simply trust them to monitor and regulate this crazy project -- claiming it's possible to dredge up 46 million cubic metres of reef inside a world heritage site provided there's sufficient environmental oversight. If the Australian Government won't stand up for the Great Barrier Reef as it's ripped up for corporate profit, we will.

That's why we've created an urgent petition, as we prepare to launch this campaign on the global stage.

www.getup.org.au/dredging-the-reef

The fragile and unique ecosystem of the Great Barrier Reef is already under intense pressure due to earlier floods and a changing climate. We've witnessed a steep increase in the rates of death of endangered marine wildlife this year -- including dolphins, dugongs and turtles. The massive development for the coal seam gas industry may well prove too much for it to handle.

As you can see from the article above this truly is shocking stuff!
Me I am flabergasted at how they could even consider this!
I am off to sign the partition and I hope you do too!
Happy Travels
Marty

Related articles

• Dredging fears for Great Barrier Reef (theage.com.au)
• New battlefront opens up in gas debate (theage.com.au)
• NatGas is greener. No, wait... it's going to kill the reef! (junkscience.com)