Australia failing to protect Reef:

Discovery

O’Shanassy

Jeffrey

Australia is breaching commitments to protect the embattled Great Barrier Reef from the effects of land clearing, environmental groups claimed Monday and called on the UN to probe the alleged failures.

Canberra has pledged to step up efforts to protect the reef as it reels from mass coral bleaching and coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish, which have proliferated due to pollution and agricultural runoff.

But the groups said the federal government had failed to stop a key threat to the World Heritage-list area — the impending bulldozing of large swathes of land in reef catchments.

Experts have warned that deforestation increases runoff into the reef, reducing water quality and the light needed for coral growth, while fuelling outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish.

In a letter to the United Nations, the Wilderness Society, WWF-Australia, the Australian Conservation Foundation and the Australian Marine Conservation Society called for an urgent investigation as the UNESCO World Heritage Committee’s annual meeting starts in Bahrain.

“Allowing this clearing to go ahead is not consistent with the promises the Australian government has made to the international community to protect and restore the Great Barrier Reef,” Australian Conservation Foundation chief Kelly O’Shanassy said in a statement. (AFP)