Rescuing The Reef

​​ One of Australia's most remarkable natural gifts, the Great Barrier Reef is blessed with the breathtaking beauty of the world's largest coral reef. The reef contains an abundance of marine life and comprises over 3,000 individual reef systems and coral cays, and literally hundreds of picturesque tropical islands with some of the world’s most beautiful sun-soaked, golden beaches.

However, a recent report has revealed that the health of the Great Barrier Reef is quickly deteriorating due to numerous environmental concerns.

The five-yearly report by The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) said that the overall outlook of the site was poor, with the BBC blaming climate change as the biggest threat.

The report also added that poor quality of water from land-based run off, coastal development and fishing also present significant threats to the reef and a reduction in all kinds of threats, both local and regional, was required to address the problem.

To stave off threats by the United Nations to add the reef to its list of at-risk World Heritage sites, the Australian government unveiled a 35-year plan to save the fragile ecosystem.

Whilst unveiling the reef’s Long-Term Sustainability Plan, Australia's Environment Minister Greg Hunt said, “maintaining and protecting this iconic World Heritage area, while considering the needs for long-term sustainable development, is a critical priority.”

However, environmentalists have criticised the plan saying it will not do enough to halt the marine park's decline.

Dr Sally Driml from UQ Tourism at The University of Queensland, who specialises in environmental concerns and developing environmental policy, believes the tourism industry and the government need to work together in order to maintain the economic value of the reef.

“The tourism industry always seems to be very upfront and concerned about the quality of the Great Barrier Reef; the Queensland Tourism industry body is always on the ball in monitoring what’s going on and having input on all the government processes in terms of management of the reef,” Dr Driml said.

“So the industry itself will continue to be active in assisting the government and making sure the government is aware of the economic value of the tourism industry that relies of the reef.”

“It’s not good for the tourism industry to have rumours circulating or ideas that the reef is actually degraded. It’s up to the industry and the government to show that there’s still lots of areas that are still viable tourist destinations.”

Although inbound tourism in Australia is on the rise, according to GBRMPA, North Queensland tourism has fallen with the number of visitors to the Great Barrier Reef dropping to approximately 2.09 million visitor days, a 7.9 percent decline.

North Queensland tourism operators say the stories seeping through Europe and the US about the reef’s imminent demise are keeping the tourists away.

However, Dr Driml asserts these statistics are nothing to be concerned about but thinks domestic tourism might be to blame for falling tourism numbers.

“Tourism in Queensland declined due to the global financial crisis and various other events; but it has started to pick up. International tourism has picked up, [but] domestic tourism in Australia is still flat-lining,” Dr Driml said.

“The high Australian dollar was one influence [for Australians to travel internationally] but also prices overseas are quite competitive as well.”

“Obviously, [tourism] operators in North Queensland would like everything to be as positive as possible; no doubt they’re concerned about anything that might influence tourism.”

Regarding the potential for the reef to be moved on to the list of at-risk World Heritage sites, Dr Driml thinks that will have direct impact on the tourism industry but believes the Queensland government will do whatever it takes to avoid that situation.

“The tourism industry is very concerned about that. It’s unknown what decision the World Heritage Committee will make but some recent actions, like the decision of the Queensland government to look for an alternative to disposing dredge spots in the reef, will probably help the case,” Dr Driml said.

“While there are a number of threats that are difficult to address, decisions such as dredging can be addressed and could have direct impact on the reef; the tourism industry has come out and congratulated the Queensland government for taking that initiative.”

As seen on: http://www.uqconnections.com.au/

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