Introduction

The Great Barrier Reef stretching along Queensland’s northeast coast is one of Australia’s main tourist attractions. The world heritage listed reef annually attracts huge numbers of visitors to its destinations on the mainland, as well as the numerous islands situated in the reef.

Last weeks’ Reef Summit has revealed alarming facts about the current state of the reef due to climate change and pollution and has provided distressing forecasts for the coming decades. Queensland’s Premier Anna Bligh reacted promptly, providing AUS$50 million to invest in new policies and monitoring schemes to protect the reef.

Original article by Lexis Nexis, “$50m for reef rescue – Blitz on pollution” in The Sunday Mail (Queensland, Australia) October 26, 2008 Sunday 2 – State – Main Country Edition

Essay by Sabrina Kamann
Master in Tourism Destination Management student 2008/2009

Queensland State Government takes rescue initiative to protect reef

The Great Barrier Reef stretching along Queensland’s northeast coast is one of Australia’s main tourist attractions. The world heritage listed reef annually attracts huge numbers of visitors to its destinations on the mainland, as well as the numerous islands situated in the reef. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) requires tour operators operating in the area to obtain ecotourism certification. Moreover the authority already introduced its first zoning plans in 1999 to protect biodiversity and is currently monitoring a new zoning plan (Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority). These are only a few of the actions GBRMPA is undertaking in order to countervail pollution and demolition of the reef.

However, the results of the Reef Summit presented last week revealed alarming facts: According to Queensland Premier Anna Bligh “scientists confirmed it (the reef) was in grave danger from contamination and climate change with contaminated run-off and pesticides being found 60km out to sea. Bligh’s solution to the problem is the allocation of AUS$50 million to the protection of the reef. Moreover, she announced to introduce even more strict rules for agriculture in the respective area to limit the industry’s impact on water quality and further invest in monitoring schemes. Bligh recognizes the huge positive impact industries such as tourism, recreation and fishing have on the region and, therefore, chooses to impose restrictions on other industries.

According to Miller and Twining-Ward in their publication “Monitoring as an Approach to Sustainable Tourism”, “having a monitoring system in place can help transform sustainable tourism from a fuzzy concept to a clear set of objectives against progress is assessed…and positive action taken to assist in a transition towards more sustainable tourism” (Miller & Twining-Ward, 2006). Therefore, one can derive that authorities in Queensland are on the right track when it comes to their contribution to a sustainable future of tourism. However, Miller and Twining-Ward also argue that the efficiency of monitoring can be debated, if unsuitable indicators are selected to measure a particular issue (Miller & Twining-Ward, 2006).

A further aspect relating to the issues of preservation, conservation and efforts to work against climate change is resource management: “The actual decisions concerning policies or practice regarding how resources are allocated and under what conditions or arrangements resources may be developed” (Mitchell, 1989) – A concept which has been implemented by GBRMPA and can be recognized in Bligh’s statement as well, much to the anger of those involved in agriculture in the area.

Despite all efforts undertaken in order to prevent the demolition of the reef and countervail climate change, the effect of these measures, however, seems to be little so far, as the reef summit still revealed alarming results. By taking the prompt initiative to invest AUS$ 50million in the protection of the world heritage listed site, the federal government has acknowledged the need for further actions on this matter. The results of the summit clearly show, that tourism impacts, as well as climate change, are not issues that can be dealt with in an one-off manner, but require continuous attention and alertness.

However, whether finally the investment will pay off can only be speculated about, as after all, not all impacts of tourism and climate change can be estimated yet.

Sources:

Miller, G., & Twining-Ward, L. (2006). Monitoring as an Approach to Sustainable Tourism. In D. Buhalis, & C. Costa, Destination Management Dynamics. Elsevier, Butterworth-Heinemann.

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/corp_site/info_services/science_management/science_key_issues/monitoring_the_ecological_effects_of_the_2004_rezoning_of_the_great_barrier_reef_marine_park