Minería en Santuario de Barrera de Coral de Australia amenaza el planeta
Australia's mining boom placing Great Barrier Reef at risk, UN warns
Un equipo de medio ambiente de las Naciones Unidas llegó a Australia la primera semana de marzo para evaluar la crisis ecológica de la Gran Barrera de Coral, advirtiendo que el ecosistema de coral se encuentra en una "encrucijada" debido a la actividad al alza de la industria minera en el área que es parte del Patrimonio de la Humanidad.
La Unesco llegó en medio de temores de que los arrecifes enlistados en el patrimonio mundial, desde 1981, podrían peligrar dada la rápida escalada de las exportaciones de minerales, carbón y gas.
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Pretendido Proyecto de Minera Río Tinto en Santuario de Barrera de Coral de Australia debe ser mejor sustentado
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Dow Jones Newswires
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16 de marzo 2012 - CANBERRA - Tony Burke, Ministro de Medio Ambiente de Australia, dijo que la evaluación de Rio Tinto Ltd. 's (RIO.AU) para su pretendida mina de bauxita y para la expansión del puerto minero en el estado de Queensland, deberá revisarse y ampliarse teniendo en cuenta "la información nueva y significativa" sobre el potencial impacto ambiental del proyecto en la Gran Barrera de Coral.
La Mina de Bauxita al sur del río Embley y el desarrollo del puerto de carga de mineral, deberán examinarse considerando el efecto potencial del transporte mineral en el Parque Marino de la Gran Barrera de Coral, que es Sitio del Patrimonio Mundial y Sitio del Patrimonio Nacional.
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"La Gran Barrera de Coral es uno de nuestros activos ambientales más significativos y ha sido reconocido como uno de los ecosistemas de arrecifes de coral más saludables del mundo y las mejores áreas marinas gestionadas", dijo Tony Burke.
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En septiembre de 2010, la unidad de Rio Tinto en Weipa presentó una propuesta para evaluación federal, al amparo legal de la ley Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, para ampliar sus operaciones de extracción de bauxita al sur del río Embley cerca de Weipa en el oeste de Cabo York.
La propuesta de la minería de bauxita incluye la construcción y operación de dos nuevas plantas de procesamiento de bauxita y de infraestructura asociada con las operaciones mineras.
Río Tinto ha estimado que la primera fase del proyecto del Sur de Embley tendrá un costo de más de 1,500 millones y ampliaría la capacidad anual en 22,5 millones de toneladas. Previamente dijo que la construcción estaba a punto de empezar en el año 2012, con el primer envío de bauxita programado para el año 2015.
Tony Burke dijo que la Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 proporciona una oportunidad para que la información relativa al transporte marítimo se tengan en cuenta en la evaluación de dichos proyectos.
"Quiero que todos los movimientos posibles de envío en el área de la Gran Barrera se consignen para tomar las decisiones pertinentes", dijo.
Esto significa que la nueva información proporcionada en la declaración del estudio de impacto ambiental del proyecto de Rio Tinto Weipa será ponderada para garantizar la protección de la Gran Barrera de Coral antes de dar luz verde al proyecto.
Una delegación de la Unesco está evaluando el impacto ambiental de varios proyectos de gas natural licuado y ampliaciones del puerto de carbón por un valor de 80,000 millones, ya en curso o previstos, cerca de la costa de la mayor red del mundo de arrecifes de coral.
"La Gran Barrera de Coral es, sin duda una encrucijada de transito marítimo y las decisiones que se tomarán en los próximos tres años podría potencialmente ser realmente cruciales para la conservación a largo plazo", dijo Fanny Douvere, jefe del Programa Marino de Patrimonio de la Humanidad, de la Unesco con sede en París, que llegó a Australia la semana pasada.
La misión de vigilancia informará al Comité del Patrimonio Mundial, que decidirá este año si se agrega el arrecife a su lista de sitios en peligro, de acuerdo con el Wall Street Journal.
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Australia To Assess Rio Mine Proposal's Barrier-Reef Impact
Published March 16, 2012 / Dow Jones Newswires
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CANBERRA – Australia's Environment Minister Tony Burke said the scope of an assessment of Rio Tinto Ltd.'s (RIO.AU) proposed bauxite mine and port expansion in Queensland state will be widened to take into account "significant new information" about the project's potential environmental impact on the Great Barrier Reef.
The South of Embley Bauxite Mine and Port Development assessment should examine the potential effect of shipping on the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, World Heritage properties and National Heritage Places, Burke said in a statement Friday.
"The Great Barrier Reef is one of our most significant environmental assets and has been recognised as among the world's healthiest coral reef ecosystems and best managed marine areas," he said.
In September 2010, Rio Tinto's Weipa unit submitted a proposal for federal assessment under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 to extend its existing bauxite mining operations south of the Embley River near Weipa on western Cape York.
The proposal for bauxite mining includes construction and operation of two new bauxite processing plants and infrastructure associated with mining operations.
Rio has estimated the first stage of the South of Embley project will cost more than US$1.5 billion and expand annual capacity by 22.5 million tons. It previously said construction was set to begin in 2012, with the first bauxite shipment scheduled for 2015.
Burke said the biodiversity act provides an opportunity for new shipping information to be taken into account in assessing such projects.
"I want potential shipping movements in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area to be taken into account for all relevant decisions," he said.
This means the new information provided in Rio Tinto Weipa's draft environmental impact statement about shipping can be fully taken into account to ensure the protection of the Great Barrier Reef before the proposal is assessed, he said.
A Unesco delegation is assessing the environmental impact of several liquefied natural gas projects and coal port expansions valued at US$80 billion either under way or planned inshore of the world's biggest network of coral reefs.
"The Great Barrier Reef is definitely at a crossroads and decisions that will be taken over the next one, two, three years might potentially really be crucial for the long-term conservation," said Fanny Douvere, head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's Paris-based World Heritage Marine Program, which arrived in Australia last week.
The monitoring mission will report to the World Heritage Committee, which will decide this year whether to add the reef to its list of sites in danger, according to the Wall Street Journal.
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Australia's mining boom placing Great Barrier Reef at risk, UN warns
Environmental team is assessing the reef amid concerns over rapid escalation in coal exports and gas exploration
Divers unveil a Greenpeace banner at Sydney Aquarium urging Unesco to protect Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Photograph: Greg Wood/AFP/Getty Images
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 6 March 2012
A UN environmental team has arrived in Australia for a crunch 10-day assessment of the Great Barrier Reef, warning that the coral ecosystem is at a "crossroads" due to the soaring activity of the mining industry in the World Heritage Area.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) visit comes amid fears that the reef's world heritage listing, which it has held since 1981, could be placed in jeopardy after rapid escalation in coal exports and gas exploration.
"The Great Barrier Reef is definitely at a crossroad and decisions that will be taken over the next one, two, three years might potentially be crucial for the long-term conservation [of the reef]," said Fanny Douvere, from Unesco's World Heritage marine programme.
Australia's coal boom is set to open up the previously undeveloped Galilee Basin in central Queensland, greatly increasing the number of developments along the state's coast, where the 1,800-mile reef stretches.
The proposed infrastructure includes Abbott Point, which would become the largest coal export port in the world.
At full capacity, the expansion would see more than 10,000 coal-laden ships a year cross the Great Barrier Reef by the end of the decade – a sizeable increase on the 1,722 vessels that entered the World Heritage Area in 2011.
Environmentalists are concerned that ships navigating reef passageways – many of which are narrower than the English Channel – will run aground, as a Chinese vessel did in 2010, tearing a two-mile gash into the coral and spilling several tonnes of oil.
There are also warnings that the reef's six species of turtle, including the endangered loggerhead and Olive Ridley turtles, and the snubfin dolphin, Australia's only endemic dolphin, would be affected by any mass industrialisation of the Queensland coast.
Any reduction in visitor numbers to a region that generates AUS$6bn a year from tourists would also be keenly felt by local businesses and the Australian economy at large.
Douvere and Tim Badman from the International Union for Conservation of Nature are set to meet with government ministers and NGOs, as well as visit the reef to assess the impact of new developments.
The specially arranged trip follows a minor diplomatic incident last year when Unesco's World Heritage Committee said it was "extremely concerned" that the Australian government had not informed it of theapproval of a major liquefied natural gas hub on Curtis Island, off the Queensland coast.
The expansion of the hub at Gladstone has been blamed for a sharp drop in water quality and widespread disease of marine creatures.
More than 45m cubic metres of sea floor is to be dredged in the World Heritage Area to accommodate the boom in shipping, with the government warning that it will penalise mining companies that dump accumulated waste on the corals.
Douvere said: "When it comes to dredging issues I think that a big part of our discussions need to focus on what the alternatives are."
Speaking to the Guardian from Paris, prior to her departure to Australia, Douvere said that there were multiple threats to the reef's wellbeing.
"We won't just be looking at the increase in shipping, but also issues such as how climate change and the recent cyclone and extreme weather has affected the reef," she said.
"We will look at the overall impact of these things. We don't regularly make these kind of trips but it was asked for by the World Heritage Committee after issues were raised last year."
Environmental groups have claimed that Unesco's visit is an embarrassment for the Australian government.
Greenpeace Australia spokesman James Lorenz said: "We are looking at an enormous, unprecedented increase in coal, oil and gas exploitation here."
"Unesco is clearly very worried about this and if they decide the reef is in danger, that places it at the same level as sites in places such as Afghanistan, which is deeply embarrassing for Australia."
"The Great Barrier Reef is priceless but it is being treated like it's a worthless. It has been mismanaged for years and we are now at a tipping point."
Both the federal Australian and state Queensland governments have launched their own 18-month assessments of the reef, although ministers have come under fire for considering several large developments, including Abbott Point, during the review.
Tony Burke, Australia's environment minister, has defended his handling of the issue, telling ABC Radio: "Let's not forget, with Abbot Point, there is already a significant level of industry that occurs there."
"One of the largest levels of concern here is shipping, as the vessels move through the reef area. So those shipping movement issues are issues that really have to be front of mind throughout all of this."
The UN report will handed to the World Heritage Committee, which will decide on any response at a meeting in St Petersburg in July.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/mar/06/great-barrier-reef-mining-boom
http://www.greenpeace.org.au/blog/?p=4618
Click on the image to open inforgraphic in pdf format.
http://www.greenpeace.org/australia/PageFiles/394060/12-026%20GBR%20Infographic%20A3_LR.pdf
