Land clearing is dumping mud into Great Barrier Reef, report shows

The Great Barrier Reef has been choked by 400,000 dump trucks’ worth of mud each year, a new report has found.

The world famous Australian reef has come under the spotlight internationally ahead of a meeting of the UNESCO* World Heritage Committee in Busan, South Korea, later this year.

The committee is expected to decide whether to list the Reef as “in danger”.

In a February submission to UNESCO, the federal and Queensland state governments said Australia’s management of the Great Barrier Reef was “world-leading”.

The submission pointed to reforms made late last year that restricted land clearing near watercourses that flowed into reef catchments*. The new laws meant that farmers who wanted to bulldoze trees within 50m of watercourses flowing into reef catchments needed to seek federal approval first. The reforms also saw the creation of a national Environmental Protection Agency.

But a report released on Wednesday by the Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation found 856,744 hectares of forest and woodland were cleared in reef catchment areas between 2018 and 2023, 84 per cent of which was for grazing.

The Burdekin and Fitzroy catchments – the Fitzroy being Australia’s second-largest sea-draining basin – released more than 4.9 tonnes of sediment* into the Reef each year, the report found.

The release of sediment smothers coral and damages inshore* reefs, causing further damage to the already vulnerable Reef ecosystem.

The report also noted a staggering 40 per cent of all land clearing in Queensland occurred within the reef catchments, with land clearing, the single biggest driver, accounting for about 60 per cent of sediment flowing into the heritage-listed Reef itself.

ACBF executive director Lyndon Schneiders, said that the amount of land clearing that had occurred in reef catchment areas was a major concern.

“The Reef is being buried in mud and the cause is well understood,” he said.

“Land clearing in reef catchments sends millions of tonnes of sediment onto the Reef every year.

“Murray Watt and the Albanese Government deserve credit for passing the strongest laws Australia has ever had to deal with this. The next step is properly enforcing them.”

WHEN WILL THE REFORMS START?
Environmental groups have urged the federal government to move faster to establish its National Environment Standards, on which land clearing applications will be judged, and to establish the national Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The ACBF also called for a whole-of-catchment plan that would include maps clearly showing no-go zones for clearing.

Mr Schneiders said that despite the new reforms, land was still being cleared in catchment areas without first being assessed by the government.

“Right now, two or three clearing proposals are expected to be formally assessed under the new laws,” Mr Schneiders said.

“Hundreds of landholders have rung the department, and we know clearing is still going on in GBR* catchments without assessment. Almost nothing is reaching the system.

Mr Schneiders said Environment Minister Murray Watt should be able to attend the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Busan in July and be “able to show the world that Australia’s new laws are working”.

“That is the opportunity here, and it is genuinely within reach,” he said.

In a statement, a government spokesman said the national EPA was set to launch on July 1 and that recent reforms, combined with existing water quality programs, would “result in embedded* water quality improvements over the longer term by improving protection of riparian* vegetation and reduce sediment run-off impacts”.

“The Albanese government is taking strong action to improve the water quality of the Great Barrier Reef and manage water quality issues associated with land clearing in the Reef catchments,” the spokesman said.

Of the reforms, they said: “This will bring the agriculture sector into line with all other industries and apply to all catchments of the Reef. The government is supporting the implementation of these reforms through engagement with land managers and industry to build understanding of new requirements.”

POLL

GLOSSARY

• UNESCO: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, a UN agency that maintains the UNESCO World Heritage List which protects cultural and natural sites of value to humanity
• reef catchments: the physical land areas where water, rain and run off from soil and fertiliser drain into the Great Barrier Reef
• sediment: rocks, soil, minerals and organic matter
• inshore: reefs that are close to land
• GBR: Great Barrier Reef
• embedded: included as an essential item
• riparian: anything living on a bank of a watercourse

EXTRA READING
Aussies worry for Reef’s future
Reef resilience tested amid decline
Great Barrier Reef coral in decline

QUICK QUIZ
1. How much mud is entering the Great Barrier Reef each year?
2. What has been causing this influx of mud?
3. Why is the mud pollution a problem?
4. What portion of land clearing in Queensland occurred within reef catchments?
5. When is the national EPA set to launch, according to the Federal Government?

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CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Protect the reef!
Can you think of any way that the mud could be safely cleared from the already vulnerable and delicate reef? Create a plan that will not damage the reef but clear the mud. You will need to think about what will be done with all that mud!

Time: Spend at least 40 minutes on this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Geography, Design and Technologies

2. Extension
Create a diagram or infographic that will help other kids understand why catchment areas have to be protected. Use the information in the story as an example for your audience.

Time: Spend at least 30 minutes on this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Geography, Science

VCOP ACTIVITY
BAB it!
Show you have read and understood the article by writing three sentences using the connectives “because’’, “and”, and “but” (BAB). Your sentences can share different facts or opinions, or the same ones but written about in different ways.