[Music] [Music] Australia's Great Barrier Reef is the largest and most biodiverse Reef system in the world it contains a whole set of wonderful coral reefs fish seagrass beds dongs Turtles whales dolphins an amazing collection of animals plants and natural beauty but it's also located in an area rich with coal one of the country's top exports Central Queensland has the largest deposits of metallurgical cold in the world and so there is this incredible mineral prize in central Queensland we are quintessentially an export industry and so we need ports any access to Ports Now new proposals for
coal mines and port expansion along the reef could jeopardize this Heritage listed site we think it's resilient but it can't take any more pressure the coal industry will really damage this part of the world even more than it already has unless we are successful in this campaign these projects are too large a scale they are too damaging at the scale they have to proceed without damaging The Reef I'm yarab moam on this edition of 101 East we look at the race for resources at this natural [Music] wonder magnificent from the air the Great Barrier Reef
off Australia's Northeast Coast it stretches over 22,000 kilomet along the state of Queensland it's about the size of Italy or Japan but it's what's underneath that attracts people from around the world this so beautiful we wanted to visit Australia and this is the place you want to be it's the world's largest coral reef ecosystem rich in Native flora and FAA a magnet for snorklers and divers awesome always Awesome every day is a good day out here sharks we saw sharks that's cool okay you get these guys over and put their pins on and we'll be
over there in a minute tour operator paom makes an envious living combining his passion with work he's been diving at the Great Barrier Reef for over 30 years it's just spectacular they never never cease to find something new on just about every dive some Dives there's a bit of current and The Bait fish are moving and everything's really exciting yeah there's um big fish just chopping through the boat you got um pygm mant Ray come racing through collecting you know feeding on the Plankton and other times it can be just really um really quiet really
Serene and uh you just no telephones no people it's just a really uh great place to escape from other pressures above the water it's a beautiful day the tourism industry promises Sun sand and Adventure austral [Music] sh so it's Little Wonder it's one of Australia's top tourist destinations and is the lifeblood of many a small town along queensland's Northeast Coast drawing in about6 billion every year the use of the reef is is intense we have 1 7 1.8 million visitors days per year we have something like 60,000 jobs created by the tourism industry along the
coast uh we have something uh in excess of 13 or 14 million visits by people who are not traveling for commercial reasons just this way but those tourism numbers could fall with the quality of this world heritage site fading fast oh it's beautiful but I think it's it's lost it color a little bit actually from the last time I was at it was probably 10 years ago 1 2 3 Coral cover has declined from 50% to just 14% in the last 5 decades and if changes don't come soon scientists predict it could drop to as
little as 5% by the year 2020 what we're basically doing here sampling the water for pesticides professor John Brody is a scientist who's been studing in and working on managing The Reef for over 35 years the pesticides we're looking for are those which actually get all the way from the agricultural areas here into the um Great Barrier Reef his current work focuses on managing runoff from farming that could damage the reef systems and the Reef's in poor condition terrible really but Professor broy is worried about another threat to water quality prognosis for the reef is
not good and hence the importance of at least managing the things we can we manage agricultural pollution now what we're seeing is ports and other big risk to parts of the Great Barrier roof not being managed properly so that makes a lot of us very sad you so it's another stress that the Great Barrier roof doesn't need doesn't need at all and even worse could be managed properly in a draft decision expected to be adopted next month a United Nations committee recommend commended the Great Barrier Reef be listed as a world heritage site in danger
if substantial progress isn't made it asked for Urgent and decisive action to be taken by the state and federal government to Halt the approval of coastal development projects that impact on the property's outstanding Universal value and requests no new development outside existing major port areas they would be the last people I would rely on for facts about the coal industry so Michael Ro is from an industry body representing resources groups in Queensland he's skeptical about the source of information in the United Nations reports why wouldn't you trust the unesco's findings or their because they're not
experts in Coal they're simply not experts in the coal industry uh we know that the reason there is a they'd be speaking to the experts no no I don't believe so their their data look very much like Greenpeace data uh unfortunately the is coming from people like Russell Reichel and I like the expression that the world heritage committee uses outstanding Universal value is why it's important he's from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority it's tasked with protecting and managing 99% of the site plenty of good diving on the barrier reil says sustainable use is
allowed so long as the reef isn't put at risk our position has been to have the current major ports as the to be retained but contained but no more major ports my concern has always been multiplication more ports in Greenfield sites that would fragment the rest of the natural system but new ports are on the drawing board there are currently 43 proposed Port related developments on the table with expansions at all five of the Reef's major ports and there are also three proposals for New Ports which goes against the United Nations recommendations the existing infrastructure
is spoken for so the only way that uh um new mines from those companies will be able to export is that if they can proceed with these new facilities we will eventually run out of capacity so the industry is looking at planning for the future uh we know that Global demand will grow by around 2 to 4% a year year on year uh and that's going to require somebody to supply that demand but supplying that demand could damage a unique ecosystem already Under Pressure we know the major risks the effects of climate change the effects
of land runoff particularly from land use like grazing and Agriculture and then there's Coastal development which would include things like ports the effects of coastal development are essentially loss of habitat a large numbers of ships uh they're noisy they typically need to dredge channel for Access so there's a lower light there the water is more turbid so the seagrasses have more difficulty growing within the port areas and the things that depend on seagrasses are iconic things like the Duong the turtle um that's what they eat if you take that away they go away there's no
evidence that's been provided by any of these groups that Port development and the ship through the Great Barrier Reef is the issue it is a issue though can the Great Barrier Reef afford another stress well it's our job to make sure that the way that development occurs on the reef and the way that shipping is conducted in The Reef doesn't contribute to that [Music] stress the port expansion proposals have triggered environmental activist group Greenpeace into action please be advised sir we have six volunteers boarding Your Vessel in a daring move six of its members climbed
aboard a coal ship as it was leaving the Great Barrier Reef this is a peaceful protest they will not interfere with your ship or its equipment and they will remain undeck we've established uh a peaceful protest on board this ship because the Australian government has utterly failed to do anything to reduce our biggest single contribution to climate change which is our Co export industry the activists left the MV Meister the following day and the ship stayed on course to deliver coal to South Korea the resources Community claimed the Greenpeace protest was simply a photo opportunity
the fact that they've boarded a a ship carrying coal to Korea and doesn't come as a surprise the fact that their slogan is to end the coal industry doesn't come as a surprise but those sort of messages simply will not resonate for the great bulk of the Australian Community the activists launched from this ship the Rainbow Warrior it tours around the world stopping at sites of environmental dispute it's just spent more than a month sailing the East Coast of [Music] Australia docking at seven cities and towns to speak about the potential impact of coal and
Port development on the reef they're probably getting ready to launch the boat so we can go into Shore Captain Peter Wilcox questions the importance of coal mining and Port developments at the cost of the reef is that what Australians want to do they want to lose the Great Barrier Reef so they can make a few dollars selling coal I think in view of all the environmental consequences of doubling the coal exports most people will decide it's not worth it you sure you want to come with us we going to go like extremely fast and after
there is the underwater maneuver the crew are getting ready to bring on board their next batch of curious locals from maai a small town community near two of queensland's biggest coalport export terminals hay point and abot point 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 from the water it's easy to see just how busy these ports get 21 Co ship a lot of coal H it's we have a GPS to fix the position but as well we continue to use and practice with the Sean and S the stff the ship tries to be true
to its Mission and user sales wherever possible to cut down its use of fossil fuel hell of Aur that's incredible but Green Peace isn't inviting visitors just to admire the ship about 6 and half thousand people have come on board the Rainbow Warrior to hear its message as it's toured Australia and Greenpeace wants to raise even more awareness saying Community Action will perhaps be the only thing that can protect the reef the campaign that we're running now is is a really critical one we have been involved in some big ones in the past this one
is one we've really got to win um it's in defense primarily at this point of of the Great Barrier Reef Green Peace campaign coordinator Ben Pearson says the reef is being industrialized into a coal and gas shipping Super Highway what sort of response do you get when you bring that discussion to politicians they're very clear for them it's all about development in this country we have a real resource mentality and that is when a big company comes and says I will mine this coal I will ship it out through the Great Barrier Reef and I
will make this many billions of dollars and create this many jobs they just sign off on that that's what they do when we come and say well what about the 60,000 people involved employed by The Reef tourism industry that doesn't get factored into the equation Pearson believes tourism is a more sustainable industry if they're allowed they will mine that coal they will dredge the harbors they will ship the coal out through the reef but they will then leave once they've sucked out as much coal as they can once the prop stop the moment the coal
price drops they will leave they will leave big holes in the ground they will leave dredged Harbors they will leave destroyed Reef the difference the alternative vision of course is a tourism industry in the great Barry Reef that could last forever as long as the reef is healthy that tourism industry will Thrive and people here will have jobs in it Michael Ro admits the resources Community is worried about the Greenpeace campaign they can see how it can be effective in uh persuading the Australian community and and the global community that there is a connection between
the work they do uh and their use of ports adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef and the health of the reef um Ro disputes claims the Great Barrier Reef is being industrialized lied to operate at the moment there's a bit over 4,000 ships uh coming into the Great Barrier Reef area to Ports along that about 1,800 of those are said to be C ships uh we might have uh over the next 10 to 20 years uh all up say uh 7 to 8,000 ships on the Great Barrier Reef to put that in perspective we are
talking about a supposed Super Highway that I you can do your arithmetic that's one ship every 2 hours one ship every two hours that's not a super highway Green Peace has brought the Rainbow Warrior to North Queensland to talk to local people back on Shore Greenpeace has teamed with local campaigners to bring its message home remember there are more jobs that rely on a healthy reath than there are in the coal industry and many people in these areas rely on a healthy reath uh the coal business doesn't actually bring a whole lot of money to
the region Patricia Julian from the maai conservation group is campaigning against Port expansions at hayo and Abbott Point uh this is uh Hy point this is 13 km southeast of maai and what's your concern for this particular proposal oh the scale of it is out of proportion for where it is in terms of its environmental impacts its impacts on the reef uh the shipping that'll you know be coming off of it the need for dredging of 13 million cubic M the cost of the reef is incalculable because we can't have both we can't have a
very massive coal industry and the reef as well we have to make a choice the new premier of Queensland has no cap on expansion he said we're in the coal business and the new projects are proceeding at an astounding rate they're so fast that the federal government keeps pulling rain back on them because the environmental work hasn't been done properly the social impact studies haven't been done properly so these things are being what we call in Australia bum rush through and and and the community has little opportunity to comment on them the Queensland government has
declined an interview with 101 East but provided this statement saying that Port development is not a threat to the reef and that it takes a rigorous approach to avoiding and managing any potential impacts from Port development and that any proposal is subject to a very stringent assessment and approvals process the state government's really a proponent they want development and which is fine we need development we need coal ports we've got nothing against those the real problem is that though the government is meant to be both the policemen if you like and the but they're also
the proponent and that just doesn't work in the end what do you say to something like that well the uh Queensland government has a uh what they call a four pillar uh economy strategy uh resources tourism uh property and construction and Agriculture and agre business so they're not relying just on the resources sector professor John Bro is one of four scientist the United Nations monitoring Mission consulted before delivering its report about threats to the reef he says he advised Port developments like those in gladston Harbor were being poorly managed was them that triggered their trip
really and then the plans also for massive Port development everywhere which what they're worried about that all of these massive Port developments would end up like gladson a disaster the real problem in gladson of course is that the dredging is causing water qu issues the government and the developers own monitoring are showing Metals above the sort of Australian guidelines that should be employed in the world heritage area and they're been exceeded numerous times now in the last 2 years but no actions been taken why wasn't it stopped well there's one real an it's called 40
billion doll nothing more needs to be said we have a 50-year vision for the city which was developed of the gladston is described as the engine room of Queensland blon Port currently handles around 90 million ton of product which is around 60 million ton of coal and then because it is an industrial city aluminium products chemical products um and Cement Products within 5 years that will rise to 150 million ton because of expansions in the LG industry uh gas industry and in the coal industry the dredging takes place uh right in here Leo Zino from
the gladston pork Corporation says the expansions and Associated dredging aren't damaging The Reef now the fact is we have we have tens of millions of dollars of monitoring and research that show the in gladon Harbor is not having a significant detrimental effect upon the ecology in gladon Harbor little alone the Great Barrier Reef and the only criticism that we can get is that base political criticism that because we pay for the we we pay for the monitoring and the research and the in studies that therefore you can't trust it which is absolute garbage well the
environmental impact assessments done for developments like gladston they done by Consultants um employed to do the job and that's fine there people who have to do it I'm involved in some of those um however what doesn't happen is that none of that is independently reviewed the environmental impact assessment is not independently reviewed by scientific people and E economists in that as well of course um that are not involved in the development that just doesn't happen not required to happen um so what you get is basically Consultants do reports that they know have to be right
otherwise they'll get no more work it's as simple as that really water quality issues prompted the UN to request an independent review of the management of gladston Harbor but it's concerned that only four months have been given to the assessment we are very confident of the outcome of that the fact is if if the ports Corporation did anything to violate the conditions of our dredging approval we could be criminally liable for that I could be criminally liable for that we're not going to do that we respect and this community respects the values of the great
ber Reef far more than those people who don't have it in their backyard the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority says connectivity between the Reef's unique ecosystems must be preserved my suggestion would be to stay within the port limits uh and not expand their operation outside of the area set aside for Port activity the issue is um to avoid the fragmentation of the habitat because many species like Duong and turtle depend on being able to move between natural Bays it's not just Port developments that people like diving company owner Paul kcom are concerned about he's
seen ships run around on the reef and is worried about more damage in the future with the increased shipping got increased risk of ships running ground uh there have been a couple of incidents in the last couple years of ships running ground on on some of the reefs and it's localized damage but is significant damage but Port Authorities say sophisticated technology has minimize the risk from increased shipping to The Reef what the reef vessel tracking system sees through a whole range of satellites is every vessel that's in the particularly sensitive Seaway it controls those vessels
the commercial vessels as we go through the increased shipping in the Great Bear Reef does not in any way equate to increased risk to the Great Barrier Reef for now the Great Barrier Reef remains resilient its Integrity remains strong it is under pressure I don't think we can have business as usual I think we need new policies in fact we need to restore the areas that are degraded keeping the quality of the reef allowing more and more people to enjoy its beauty and it's that very act that could be essential to its survival imp I
think the more people that um actually get in the water and and see the reef and appreciate just how significant it is and what the diversity is the more people know about it the more they love it and therefore the more they'll consider protecting it or looking after it there's no disputing the importance and iconic status of the Great Barrier Reef but its future survival depends on how Australia manages the rush for resources with preserving this natural wonder of the world
