Lethal Heating: 04/11/17

11/04/2017

Great Barrier Reef: Severe Coral Bleaching Hits Two-Thirds Of Reef, Aerial Surveys Show

ABC News

Aerial survey shows extent of coral bleaching

Two-thirds of the Great Barrier Reef has now been devastated by severe coral bleaching, with damage occurring further south this year, Queensland scientists say.

Two of the world's leading experts on coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef said aerial surveys they conducted this year along the reef's entire length showed an accelerated rate of bleaching in the central section.
The ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies undertook the aerial surveys in both 2016 and 2017.
In 2016, bleaching was most severe in the northern third of the Reef, while one year on the middle third has experienced the most intense coral bleaching.

The main areas of coral bleaching in 2016 and 2017. (Supplied: ARC Centre for Excellence for Coral Reef Studies)

Dr James Kerry from James Cook University in north Queensland, who was one of the scientists involved in the surveys, said the latest damage had occurred in a stretch from Cooktown to Townsville.
"Last year we saw severe bleaching in the northern third, and this year we have seen severe bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef from about Cooktown down to Townsville, so we are calling that the central third," he said.
"So about two-thirds of the reef now in the past 12 months have had a fairly serious bleaching event."
He said there was little doubt that bleaching was being caused by record-breaking temperatures driven by global warming.
"It is fair to say that this is extremely concerning for the long-term health of the reef," he said.
"It is facing a number of stresses, but I think the outside stress is coral bleaching, and we have now seen two major events in two years, which we have never seen before - that is unprecedented."
He said it was the fourth time the Great Barrier Reef had bleached severely.
"In 1998, 2002, 2016, and now in 2017 - bleached corals are not necessarily dead corals, but in the severe central region we anticipate high levels of coral loss," he said.

"It takes at least a decade for a full recovery of even the fastest growing corals, so mass bleaching events 12 months apart offers zero prospect of recovery for reefs that were damaged in 2016."

Coupled with the 2017 mass bleaching event, Tropical Cyclone Debbie struck a section of the Great Barrier Reef in March.
Scientists said the intense, slow-moving system was likely to have caused varying levels of damage along a path up to 100 kilometres in width.
Researchers said any cooling effects related to the cyclone were likely to be negligible in relation to the damage it caused, which unfortunately struck a section of the reef that had largely escaped the worst of the bleaching.

Footage shows areas of the Great Barrier Reef in the Whitsundays devastated by Cyclone Debbie (ABC News)

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'Barbaric': Adani's Giant Coal Mine Granted Unlimited Water Licence For 60 Years

Fairfax - Peter Hannam

The proposed Adani coal mine, which will be Australia's biggest, has been granted unlimited access to groundwater by the Queensland government in a move farmers fear will drain huge amounts of water from the Great Artesian Basin.
According to a copy of Adani's water licence signed last Wednesday and obtained by Fairfax Media, the $16 billion Carmichael mine merely needs to monitor and report the amount of water it extracts under a permit that runs until 2077.

Great Barrier Reef's coral crisis

The Great Barrier Reef is on track for another year of coral decline, this year affecting prime tourism areas.

The mine – one of nine proposed for the Galilee Basin west of Rockhampton – can conduct its own review of its groundwater model without independent or government oversight.
There are also no impact levels specified that will trigger a halt to mining, and the company is able to offset any significant water loss elsewhere, the licence shows.
"It's bloody-minded and barbaric," said Bruce Currie, a grazier who lives in the region and has joined legal action against Galilee mines. "This is going to definitely impact on the integrity of [the Great Artesian Basin]."
According to a supplementary environmental impact statement, the mine will draw 26 million litres of water a day from its pits by 2029 as it ramps out annual production to as much as 60 million tonnes.
"In granting this licence, the Department of Natural Resources and Mines has carefully considered a broad range of information," a spokesperson said, adding modelling shows that as much as 4.55 gigalitres of groundwater could be taken per year.
"Adani will also need to establish make-good agreements with groundwater users who could potentially be affected by changes to water availability or quality," the spokesperson said. Some 100 conditions are in place to ensure water resources are protected.

Nine coal mines are planned for Queensland's Galilee Basin. Photo: Glenn Hunt

The licence, though, would not be subject to the new Water Act Referral Panel set up to ensure "the sustainable management of water in Queensland".
The opening of mining in the Galilee Basin is shaping up to be one of country's big environment battles. Proponents say it will generate exports and bring jobs to a depressed part of the state, and even reduce carbon emissions if it displaces the use of dirty coal in India or elsewhere.

Protesters gathered as Adani's local mining chief executive Jeyakumar Janakaraj spoke at a business lunch in Brisbane last week. Photo: Supplied

Opponents, though, argue the coal is largely poor quality and the basin will require huge subsidies to become viable. Burning the fuel will also release a "carbon bomb" that will contribute to harming the Great Barrier Reef, which is already being hammered by unprecedented coral bleaching blamed on global warming.
Fairfax also sought comment from Adani Mining, the local subsidiary of the Indian company.

Limited scrutiny
Unlike other controversial mines, such as the New Acland coal mine planned for the Darling Downs, Adani's water usage is not subject to public submissions and appeals, said Jo Bragg, chief executive of Queensland's Environmental Defenders Office.
Groundwater evidence is often the most controversial feature and public scrutiny is often the most significant aspect of any review, Ms Bragg said. "It's a matter of grave concern that there's not that opportunity."
It was "absolutely anomalous" that the Carmichael mine – which will dwarf New Acland's output of about 7.5 million tonnes a year – should go through with a less vigorous process for its water licence, she said.
Carmel Flint, a campaigner for anti-mining group Lock the Gate, said the open-ended water licence for Adani amounted to a "free kick" to take water from important aquifers such as the Dunda Beds and Clematis Sandstone formations.
Water from the Great Artesian Basin "is just essential for farming communities", Ms Flint said. "Without the water, their businesses are basically finished."
Mr Currie, who runs about 1700 head of cattle "in a good season" over his 25,000-hectare property, said Adani was "the linchpin" to the basin's mines.
If it proceeded, "a lot of the others will go ahead", worsening the groundwater disruption, he said.

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Australia's Politicians Have Betrayed The Great Barrier Reef And Only The People Can Save It

The Guardian - David Ritter

The big lie propagated by government and big business is that it is possible to turn things around for the reef without tackling global warming

How did the Great Barrier Reef reach 'terminal stage'?

Once upon a time, in the distant 60s and 70s, the Great Barrier Reef faced imminent destruction. Tenement applications for drilling and mining covered vast swathes of the reef, with both government and industry enthusiastically backing the plans for mass exploitation.
In the face of the reef’s impending doom a motley collection of ordinary Australians shared a common determination that something had to be done. But the odds didn’t look good. The poet turned campaigner Judith Wright wrote that “if it had not been for the public backing for protection of the reef that we knew existed, we might have given up hope”.
The optimism of the poet was well founded. First in the hundreds, then in the tens of thousands, a people’s movement grew to defend the reef. Everyday Aussies turned activists and campaigners. Scientists and lawyers came forward with vital expertise. At a crucial moment the Queensland Trades and Labour Council approved a total black-ban by all affiliated unions on oil drilling on the Great Barrier Reef.
As hard as is now to believe, the Murdoch-owned Australian opined that the ban would have an unprecedented measure of public support and would probably succeed. It deserved to. Only finally did the politicians follow the will of the people. Through the power and determination of the Australian people, the greatest marine park in human history was established and the Great Barrier Reef lived to fight another day.

Two-thirds of Great Barrier Reef hit by back-to-back mass coral bleaching

Inherently democratic in its size and closeness to the shore, the Great Barrier Reef is truly the people’s reef. Looking back on the first great struggle for the reef between the Australian people and the fossil fuel industry, Wright wrote that “if disasters in the shape of weather, accident and climate change lie ahead, the work done already has shown what can be done to shield it from such dangers and has proved that people will agree, in the event, to supplying the help it needs”.

Unhappily, those disasters are now upon us. Global warming brought the great bleaching of 2015-16 and the dreadful and unprecedented sequel over the summer that has just finished. Our reef is in dire trouble.
But while the people’s reef is grievously wounded, it is still very much alive. And life fights for life. Innumerable animals are now doing what creatures do, navigating the hazards of life as best they can to survive and reproduce in the warming waters. Given time and the right conditions, the people’s reef can recover and life will flourish again.
So how this time around do we supply the help the reef needs? The big lie propagated by Australian government and big business is that it is possible to turn things around for the reef without tackling global warming. As scientists have made clear, it isn’t – we have to stop climate pollution to give our reef a chance.
It is true that Australia can’t save the reef alone because climate change is a global problem. But that does not mean we are powerless to act and we should not be deterred. Because when you love something deeply – as we Australians cherish our people’s reef – then you do all that is within your power to save that thing which you hold so dear. And there is much that is within our power to do.
So what is to be done? The answer does not lie in false techno-fixes or the faux-democratic farrago of the government-business funded Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef. Australia’s greatest contribution to global warming is through our coal, exported and burned in foreign power stations. So our most determined Australian efforts to save the reef must be directed to closing down the coalmining industry, while ensuring decent new jobs and fair transitions for all affected workers and communities.
Again, the balance of power seems loaded against us. First the Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, and now the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, have betrayed both the reef and the trust of the Australian people by snivelling across the seas, pledging allegiance to the Carmichael coalmine. All too often, the rest of big business is complicit in the crisis by explicitly or tacitly supporting the coal industry. Financial institutions such as CommBank continue to invest in the fossil fuel projects that are bringing disaster to the reef.
But, once we are roused, never underestimate the power and determination of the Australian people to defend our iconic animals and the natural beauty of our lands and seas. The extraordinary success of the Stop Adani Roadshow – which sold out across the eastern Australian capital cities reaching an audience of thousands – is just a glimpse of the popular will to fight the coal industry for the future of our reef.
We have the opportunity to write our own story, not of despair but of defiance. If we, the people of Australia, stand determined together against coalmining and the rest of the fossil fuel industry then the future of our reef is not bleak but hopeful.
The roadmap to full recovery for our reef will be decades or even centuries in the making. And it is going to get worse before it gets better. But we, the Australian people, can again agree to supply the help it needs, to give the reef we love the best chance of future flourishing. Now is the time to get involved.

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