EXCLUSIVE












Scientists bemused at Bishop's reef comments

Australia's leading coral reef
scientists say Julie Bishop's remark that the Great Barrier Reef is not
in danger from climate change flies in the face of even the Government's
own reports.
New York: Julie Bishop has rejected Barack Obama's
assertion that the Great Barrier Reef is under threat from climate
change in a further sign of the Australian government's displeasure with
the US President's speech that overshadowed the G20 in Brisbane.




But world leading scientists have rejected
Ms Bishop's claims, pointing out that rising temperatures threaten the
reef with mass bleaching, while fragile ecosystems will suffer due to
increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide in the oceans.   





The Foreign Minister had previously gently chided the US President, saying
she personally briefed the United States about potential threats to the
reef just days before Mr Obama's address last Saturday, but in an
exclusive interview with Fairfax Media in New York, Ms Bishop went
further and directly contradicted the President.






Climate change a threat to the Great Barrier Reef: US President Barack Obama's University of Queensland address.
Climate change a threat to the Great Barrier Reef: US President Barack Obama's University of Queensland address. Photo: Reuters


In his speech, Mr Obama warned "the incredible natural glory of the Great Barrier Reef" is threatened by climate change.




"Because I have not had time to go to the Great Barrier Reef
and I want to come back, and I want my daughters to be able to come
back, and I want them to be able to bring their daughters or sons to
visit. And I want that there 50 years from now," he told an audience at the University of Queensland.




But on Friday Ms Bishop said the Australian government was
already acting to protect the reef from its greatest threats, which she
stressed did not include climate change.






Climate change a threat to the Great Barrier Reef: US President Barack Obama's University of Queensland address.
Climate change a threat to the Great Barrier Reef: US President Barack Obama's University of Queensland address. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen


"It's not under threat from climate change because its
biggest threat is nutrient runoffs from agricultural land [and] the
second biggest threat is natural disasters, but this has been for 200
years," she told Fairfax Media in New York.




However, Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, director of the University of
Queensland's Global Change Institute, backed the US President, saying Mr
Obama was "right on the money".




"We have one of the jewels of the planet in our possession
and we should care a lot about climate and he wasn't getting that from
our leader [Prime Minister Tony Abbott]," Dr Hoegh-Guldberg said. Peer
reviewed research by Dr Hoegh-Guldberg says that even global warming
limited to 2 degrees will be devastating to the reefs.





Julie Bishop: Obama overstated climate change threat to Great Barrier Reef.
Julie Bishop: Obama overstated climate change threat to Great Barrier Reef. Photo: Reuters


Charlie Veron, a former chief scientist at the Australian
Institute of Marine Science, went further, saying the Abbott government
was downplaying the dire future facing the Great Barrier Reef and coral
reefs everywhere.




"In the long term, that is the whole of this century, we are
going to have the Great Barrier Reef slaughtered," said Dr Veron, a
world authority who has scientifically named about one-quarter of all
known corals.




"There's no doubt about that at all, if carbon-dioxide emissions keep on tracking as they are."



Ms Bishop defended the government's efforts to protect the
reef, saying it was stopping agricultural run-off, had stopped mining
exploration was banning the dumping of capital dredge waste.




Ms Bishop said she did not have an issue with Mr Obama
raising climate change on the sidelines of the G20 summit but was
"surprised" by his direct reference to the reef and doubted it would
have been made if the President had been briefed properly on the message
she had relayed to US Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell.




"We're not angry, I was just surprised about the reference to
the Great Barrier Reef, that's all and that's the only point I've made.
Had I not given the detailed briefing on the Thursday I would not even
have mentioned it.




"I truly believe that had the White House known about the
briefing on the Thursday I don't think it would have been in his
speech," she said.




Australia is currently awaiting a decision by the World
Heritage Committee on whether the Great Barrier Reef will be added to
the "endangered" list, and Ms Bishop has vowed to "advocate strongly
against that".




In a separate climate issue for the government, the United Nations Environment Programme released its annual Emissions Gap Report 2014 in
New York, citing Australia as one of four countries "likely to require
further action and/or purchased offsets" to meet pledges on cutting
carbon emissions.




Australia's replacement of the carbon price with an Emissions
Reduction Fund will likely increase projected emissions for 2020, the
UN report said.




Instead of reducing annual carbon emissions to 555 million
tonnes by the end of the decade, Australia is likely to increase them to
between 685 million and 710 million tonnes, it said.




Other nations on course to fail to deliver on their pledges are Canada, Mexico and the US.



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