Opinion
1 July, 2021
UNESCO opinion set to destroy our regional economy
UNESCO intends to list our Great Barrier Reef as ‘in danger’.
The mere talk of this pending decision has reverberated around the globe and will have diabolical impacts on our regional economy.
UNESCO’s opinion is inaccurate in the extreme.
The reality is our Great Barrier Reef is very healthy. It’s abundant with coral, fish and marine life.
Having spent over 4000 days working out on the Great Barrier Reef over the last 35 years including the last 2 months working out of Lizard island; I can testify the reef is in all her glory and will take your breath away.
I’ve witnessed the impacts of cyclones, bleaching and Crown of Thorns Starfish; all totally normal events essential for the life cycle of the Reef.
Coral spawn needs a clean slate to land on and grow which is how the Reef has grown for thousands of years. The regrowth is spectacular.
There are 2 obvious pressures pushing this UNESCO position, both are blatant political propaganda:
1. The years of hysteria and exaggerated headlines of the ‘Reef is dead’. This has been parroted by ‘expert’ scientists reliant on crisis funding and by Green activist groups who are obsessed with their anti-fossil fuels agenda.
The narrative has been promoted by governments chasing votes in capital cities and embellished by some MPs who are funded by these green groups.
The chickens have now come home to roost. UNESCO has capitalised on the deception and the results will be devastating for our reef tourism industry.
2. China chairs the UNESCO committee poised to list the Reef as ‘In Danger’ and will host the UNESCO July meeting.
Has Reef Tourism been added to the list of export industries to suffer from Chinas trade war?
China is the world’s biggest polluter, yet the China led UNESCO committee claims Australia must act on climate change to ‘save the GBR’. Total hypocrisy.
Regardless of which ideology, there is no robust science to justify UNESCO’s position.
Australia should redirect the millions it costs us each year to be involved with UNESCO into countering the false messaging with the true story about how wonderful our Great Barrier Reef really is.
Dan McCarthy
Spokesmen for the Regional Australia Party
