{"id":33111,"date":"2016-05-28T11:20:43","date_gmt":"2016-05-28T01:20:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nofibs.com.au\/?p=33111"},"modified":"2022-05-02T11:07:30","modified_gmt":"2022-05-02T01:07:30","slug":"unesco-report-on-heritage-sites-affected-by-climatechange-censored-in-reefgate-scandal-reports-takvera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/unesco-report-on-heritage-sites-affected-by-climatechange-censored-in-reefgate-scandal-reports-takvera\/","title":{"rendered":"UNESCO report on Heritage sites affected by #climatechange censored in #ReefGate scandal reports @takvera"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"AYCC

AYCC in a snap #Reefgate protest outside Commonwealth Offices<\/p><\/div>\nA UNESCO report identifies World Heritage sites at risk from climate change, but there is no mention of Australian sites in the report. The Australian Government requested that all mentions be deleted, and this was complied with by UNESCO. This censorship of science should raise many questions.<\/p>\n

Professor Will Steffen’s statement on ReefGate<\/a> from the Climate Council:<\/p>\n

“Last year I was asked to review an international scientific report on the impacts of climate change on World Heritage sites and tourism. I reviewed a case study on the Great Barrier Reef, focussing on the increasing risks to tourism from climate change. <\/p>\n

“Overnight the report<\/a> was released \u2013 but mysteriously, the Great Barrier Reef chapter<\/a> had been cut completely. I was astonished, given we\u2019ve just witnessed the worst coral bleaching event <\/a>in the Reef\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

“Australian officials have now confirmed to The Guardian<\/a> that they asked the report authors to remove any reference to the Great Barrier Reef, or any Australian world heritage site. No sections about any other country were removed.<\/p>\n

\nAs a scientist, I\u2019m angry. As an Australian, I\u2019m disgusted. As a Climate Councillor, I\u2019m now asking for your help. Today you will hear me on the TV and radio waves as we ask the government to answer these allegations, which are deeply troubling.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“I\u2019ve spent a lot of my career working internationally, and it\u2019s very rare to see something like this. Perhaps in the old Soviet Union you might see this sort of thing happening, where governments would quash information because they didn\u2019t like it. But not in western democracies. I haven\u2019t seen it happen before.<\/p>\n

“Information is the currency of democracy. When governments attempt to suppress or pressure scientific information, we must speak up. To me, this is about more than one report, and more than the Reef.” concluded Steffen.<\/p>\n

The Australian Department of Environment outlined reasons for censoring the report in a statement:<\/p>\n

“The department was concerned that the framing of the report confused two issues \u2013 the world heritage status of the sites and risks arising from climate change and tourism. It is the world heritage committee, not its secretariat (the World Heritage Centre), which is properly charged with examining the status of world heritage sites. Recent experience in Australia had shown that negative commentary about the status of world heritage properties impacted on tourism.”<\/p>\n

“The department indicated it did not support any of Australia\u2019s world heritage properties being included in such a publication for the reasons outlined above.”<\/p>\n

According to the Department, communicating this to UNESCO was charged to Australia’s UNESCO ambassador, currently Mr George Mina, a senior career officer of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The Department also stated that Minister Hunt was not briefed as part of this decision.<\/p>\n

\"20160527-reef-censored-reefgate\"The author of the censored chapter on the Great Barrier Reef, Mr Adam Markham, is the deputy director of the Climate and Energy Program at Union of Concerned Scientists. He told the ABC<\/a> that what was removed was important work.<\/p>\n

“I think it was a pretty fair and balanced piece of work and so it tells us that in fact it’s one of best managed World Heritage Sites in world, there’s an awful lot of science going on in the Great Barrier Reef,” he said. “We wrote it before this current bleaching event and that obviously is catastrophic at the moment for the barrier reef, it’s one of the worst bleaching events they’ve seen.”<\/p>\n

“So we didn’t have any knowledge about of that at that time because it hadn’t happened, but the case study that we had in there gave a very good description of the history, the management, some of the problems facing it and identified climate changes as one of the major risks that we have to deal with if we want to prevent the reef degrading.”<\/p>\n

\nPolitical criticism from Labor and The Greens<\/h3>\n

Both Mark Butler, Labor’s shadow Minister for the Environment, and Larissa Waters, The Greens Deputy Leader and spokeperson on climate change were scathing in how a UNESCO report could be censored by the Australian Government.<\/p>\n

Statement by Shadow Minister for Environment, Mark Butler at the Labor Herald<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cReport after report, expert after expert, tells us that the biggest threat to the Great Barrier Reef<\/a> is climate change<\/a>,\u201d Butler said. \u201cHow could UNESCO miss this? They didn\u2019t \u2014 the government made sure it was left out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World<\/a> and we have a responsibility to act to restore its health and resilience,\u201d the shadow minister said. \u201cWhat we don\u2019t need is a government that won\u2019t act on climate change<\/a> and won\u2019t allocate any new funds to protect the reef.<\/p>\n

\n“The best way to help the reef and to boost tourism and economic growth is to take serious action on climate change<\/a>, to face the challenge and show leadership. Hiding from the problem will do nothing but damage the reef further.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cMalcolm Turnbull needs to front up and tell us exactly what he has done to hide the truth and why. Labor<\/a> has a serious plan for tackling climate change. Under the last Labor government emissions fell, but they are up under the Liberals\u2019 useless, expensive direct action<\/a> policy.<\/p>\n

Queensland Senator Larissa Waters, Australian Greens Deputy Leader and climate change spokesperson, said:<\/p>\n

“The Turnbull Government will stop at nothing to cover up the devastating impact its inaction on global warming is having on our World Heritage Areas like the Great Barrier Reef and our magnificent Tassie Wilderness. The solution for saving the Reef and for saving the tourism industry it supports are one in the same.<\/p>\n

“We need a healthy Reef for a healthy tourism industry and that means actually dealing with global warming, rather than ignoring it.<\/p>\n

\n“I am calling on Minister Hunt to publicly explain his role in this sorry affair including whether he was aware of the censorship before the report was published regardless of whether he was formally briefed by the Department. The old parties are adding more fuel to the fire by allowing millions more tonnes of coal to be dug up and shipped out through the Reef to further cook its waters when burnt.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“We Greens have the courage and vision to act on global warming by transitioning to clean energy to save Reef tourism jobs while providing new jobs and training for coal workers already being sacked in this dying industry,” Senator Waters said.<\/p>\n

Greg Hunt had an opportunity to defend the decision at The Project<\/i> current affairs program: Climate Report censored?<\/a>. He wasn’t very convincing. <\/p>\n

Australia made the international news for this censorship with reports at The Independent<\/a> and the BBC<\/a> in the UK and at the New York Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There was also some satire from the Backburner at SBS comedy: Great Barrier Reef Removed From UN Report To Accurately Reflect Future<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Clearly other nations didn’t have the same view with regard to impacts on Tourism. Professor Tim Stephens tweeted “Clearly the Italian govt didn&’t demand that Venice be removed, despite the #climate<\/a> risk to tourism #reefgate<\/a>” Stephens is Professor of International Law and an ARC Future Fellow at the Faculty of Law, University of Sydney. He is also President of the Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law.<\/p>\n

\n

\nClearly the Italian govt didn't demand that Venice be removed, despite the #climate<\/a> risk to tourism #reefgate<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/ArpPTqq7BU<\/a><\/p>\n

— Tim Stephens (@ProfTimStephens) May 27, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n