The future of the Great Barrier Reef under a rapidly-warming climate should be on the agenda at this week’s Council of Australian Governments meeting in Cairns, says the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS).
David Cazzulino, AMCS Great Barrier Reef campaigner, will join an early morning rally on Friday outside the venue for the meeting, where state premiers will join Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
He said: “There is no better place than in Cairns for our political leaders to commit to building a safer future for our Great Barrier Reef. We are the custodians for the world’s greatest coral reef and these leaders need to assure us they’ve got a plan.
“Will COAG have anything to say about the Reef’s greatest threat – climate change? What will COAG do to protect the 64,000 jobs that rely on a healthy Reef? What will COAG do to protect the jewel in Australia’s tourism crown?
“Australia has to show there’s a future beyond the fossil fuels that are bleaching and killing corals on the Reef.
“Next year the World Heritage Committee will be asking similar questions and, if they don’t get the right answers then the Reef could be heading for the ‘World Heritage In Danger’ list.
“Can these leaders say they did what they could to protect this global icon?”
Concerned Cairns locals will join a rally outside the Cairns Convention Centre on Friday 9 August from 8.30am to call for climate action to protect our Reef.
