UNESCO warning looms as Great Barrier Reef choked by 400,000 truckloads of mud

Australia’s world-famous Great Barrier Reef is being smashed by almost 400,000 dump trucks’ worth of mud each year, smothering coral and choking seagrass, a scathing new report has found ahead of a key international decision.

The reef – one of Australia’s single biggest employers, contributing about $9bn to the economy – is in 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 announce 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 reef was “world-leading”, noting reforms late last year to create a national Environmental Protection Agency and which subject land clearing within 50m of watercourses flowing into reef catchments to federal approval.

However, 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 latter being Australia’s second-largest sea-draining basin – released more than 4.9 tonnes of sediment into the reef each year, which smothers coral and degrades inshore reefs, the report found.

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

ACBF executive director Lyndon Schneiders, noting the $1.8bn spent by state and federal governments on water quality in the reef since 2014, likened the approach to “like declaring you want to stop lung cancer while peddling cigarettes to children”.

“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.”

Environmental groups have urged the federal government to expedite the establishment of its National Environment Standards, on which land clearing applications will be judged, and to establish the national Environmental Protection Agency.

Noting the reforms were “cause for optimism”, the ACBF also called for a whole-of-catchment plan to confront the cumulative impacts of land clearing, including maps clearly designating no-go zones where clearing is entirely banned.

“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.

“The new National Environment Protection Agency was created for exactly this. Give it the job and let it do it.”

Mr Schneiders said Environment Minister Murray Watt should be able to “walk into Busan in July 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.

Australia and UNESCO, the United Nations’ environmental and cultural protection agency, have been at loggerheads at times over recent years. While welcoming action on the reef, UNESCO delayed an “in danger” decision on it last year.

In a statement, a government spokesperson 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,” they 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.”

“Together with the Queensland government, we have committed more than $2bn from 2014 to 2031 to improve Reef water quality,” they continued.

“This funding is delivering new, targeted programs in the Reef catchments to reduce run-off, restore habitats that are important for water quality and deliver innovative, new approaches.

“Our government’s total record investment in Reef protection is now $3.9bn since 2014-15.”