Cockburn writes: "The Great Barrier Reef in Australia has deteriorated to a 'critical point' with its future outlook downgraded from 'poor' to 'very poor' due to global warming and local pollution, a major government report has concluded."
Around half the Great Barrier Reef was killed or damaged by coral bleaching in 2016 and 2017, with green turtles among the species suffering from significant habitat loss. (photo: Getty)
Great Barrier Reef Has Deteriorated to 'Critical Point' Amid Warming Seas and Pollution, Major Report Says
30 August 19
Warning comes as Australia�s greenhouse gas emissions reach highest level for seven years
he Great Barrier Reef in Australia has deteriorated to a �critical point� with its future outlook downgraded from �poor� to �very poor� due to global warming and local pollution, a major government report has concluded.
Immediate national and international action is required to improve the reef�s prospects, with the global climate crisis representing the greatest long-term threat to the natural wonder, according to the five-year Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report 2019.
The degradation of the world�s largest living structure has resulted in significant habitat loss for turtles, fish and sea birds. Back-to-back major coral bleaching events in 2016 and 2017 resulted in the death of around half of the entire 133,360-square-mile structure due to marine heatwaves exacerbated by rising global temperatures.
�The current rate of global warming will not allow the maintenance of a healthy reef for future generations,� the report said, stating �the window of opportunity to improve the reef�s long-term future is now�.�
�Significant global action to address climate change is critical to slowing the deterioration of the reef�s ecosystem and heritage values and supporting recovery,� the authors said.��Such actions will complement and greatly increase the effectiveness of local management actions in the reef and its catchment.�
The report comes as Australia�s government has published figures indicating its greenhouse gas emissions have hit a seven-year high.�
Other major threats to the reef include coastal development, farming pollution and illegal fishing.
The report is the third of its kind and monitors the continuing damage and degradation to the Unesco World Heritage site.�
The report reflects the expanding area of coral killed or damaged by the severe bleaching events in recent years.
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority chairman Ian Poiner said: �The accumulation of impacts, through time and over an increasing area, is reducing its ability to recover from disturbances, with implications for reef-dependent communities and industries.
�The overall outlook for the Great Barrier Reef is very poor.�
The authority�s chief scientist David Wachenfeld said in a statement: �Gradual sea temperature increase and extremes, such as marine heatwaves, are the most immediate threats to the reef as a whole and pose the highest risk.�
�Global action on climate change is critical.�
The United Nations World Heritage Committee expressed concern about bleaching in 2017 and the latest report could lead to the reef being reclassified by Unesco next year as �in danger�.
Australian environment minister Sussan Ley said she was not surprised by the downgrade in the reef�s condition given the damage done by recent cyclones and bleaching events over successive years.
She said her government is �building resilience in this important global reef� and is keeping its Paris commitment to reduce Australia�s greenhouse gas emissions by 26 per cent to 28 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.
�I want to make the point that it�s the best managed reef in the world,� she added.
�There are those who will not be happy unless we declare the reef dead in the name of climate change, just as there are those who want to claim that nothing out of the ordinary is taking place,� she wrote in an opinion piece for the Sydney Morning Herald�titled �The Great Barrier Reef is not dead... long live the reef�.
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ISIS is a Sunni organization. The Taliban, translated students, were taught and trained in schools, madrassas, in Pakistan financed by Saudi Arabia. Al-Qaeda is a Sunni organization founded and led by a Saudi, bin Laden,until his death. 15 of the 19 9-11 hijackers were Saudi citizens.
Saudi Arabia is a small country with few citizens. Some of them are dissatisfied with the royal family and desire change. Rather than pick a fight with populous Iran which does not threaten us, we should be concentrating our efforts on bringing change to Saudi Arabia. I am not suggesting that we invade another Muslim country, but we should and must confront the source of much of the terrorism that threatens the US. Although some Saudis might welcome an US invasion as a liberating force, much of the Muslim world would oppose the US occupying the land containing the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
Go ahead and investigate Saudi Arabia but all paths will lead right back to Langley Virginia and the CIA.
Investigate the links between the house of Bush and the house of Saud, Israeli involvement and the whole jive-ass explanation of the events of 9/11.
The demolition of the World Trade towers was controlled in more ways than one.
Double DUH!!
But even if Mossad was deeply involved, you're correct that 9/11 couldn't have happened without assistance from deep inside the US government/mili tary.
I have deep reservations about our relationship with Israel, to the extent that they have cost me my oldest friendship. However, the assertion that there were cheering Israelis at 9/11 is on a par with their baking matzoths with the blood of Christian children - namely, in the realm of psychopathology . I suggest, in the most non-judgmental way, that you seek help.
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=123885
This shows part of an interview those Israelis gave on an Israeli TV program. The key phrase is "our purpose was to document the event."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rStJ5BgadPs
Here's an interview with the cop who arrested them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-B2J7tp8eg
The collapse was a classic controlled demolition.
You forgot the part where those Saudis hiding in caves in Afghanistan hypnotized top brass to prevent the most powerful air-defense system in the world from intercepting a single jet almost 2 hours.
End of story, not even close. Just two points (of the many that could be offered).(1) the airliners, no matter how full with fuel, the fuel doesn't burn hot enough to distort or compromise steel framed high rise structures. (2) the towers in no way came down in a classic collapse configuration, (there was no real structural engineering analysis- ask any real structural engineer).
I suggest you get you're head out of the sand, and stop repeating the "official" version like it's the gospel.
What a shame for the great ideals that the USA and its venerable Constitution stood for. The rest of the world loses too, as now there is no role model to look up to.
And the dumb ass American people, standing in a puddle of their own drool, said OK...
Do not make the chief of staff of the investigation a person of interest in the 9/11 events, as Philip Zelikow was for the Keen Commission. Do not limit the commissions task to explaining the events in terms of the government's official hypothesis, as the the Keen Commission was. Open the whole thing up and examine every part. Do not accept as fact preconceived notions. The failings of the official hypothesis are abundant and demonstrable. A new hypothesis, more consistent with facts and testimony must be formulated and serve as a basis for action. Otherwise kiss the USA as a bastion of freedom and democracy good-by.