QRC backs Reef strategy

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Queensland Resources Council (QRC) has thrown its support behind efforts to stem coral bleaching at the Great Barrier Reef, but has denied that Australian coal miners were to blame for the event.

The state government earlier this year appointed the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to conduct research into the wide-ranging coral bleaching taking place across the Great Barrier Reef.

The Marine Park Authority this week said that in-water surveys across the Reef had found that while bleaching was widespread across the Reef, it was not uniform in its severity.

The mass coral bleaching was being caused by prolonged exposure to heat stress, with the Marine Park Authority noting that global ocean warming was at the heart of the issue.

Despite the gloom, the Great Barrier Reef’s ecosystem had the capacity to recover, and the Marine Park Authority has called on stakeholders to improve water quality in the region by reducing pollutants and sediments entering the Reef area through catchment waterways.

The QRC this week said that the industry body had been at the table, working to implement the Reef 2050 long-term sustainability plan, of which a key focus was to improve water quality.

“The bleaching event has led to anti-coal activists chanting their all or none slogans – it’s either coal or the Reef – when in fact what we need is less grandstanding and political games, and instead adopt a level-headed approach to the global problem of reducing emissions,” the QRC said in a statement.

“Australia, which produces less than 2% of global emissions from across agriculture, forestry, transport, power generation and industry, is part of the solution to reducing global emissions through use of its coal.”

The QRC pointed out that Australian coal was amongst the highest quality coal in the world, helping to power cleaner, more efficient power plants.

“Without coal, we would not have anything made from steel, nor would we be able to power homes and businesses. The Greens are quick to forget that when the sun goes down or the wind stops blowing, not only do the products from the resources sector make up components of renewables, coal provides the back-up power to keep us out of the dark.”