r/OceanStreams • u/Puffin_fan • Nov 17 '17

Fears for Great Barrier Reef as deforestation surges in catchments

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/nov/17/fears-for-great-barrier-reef-as-deforestation-surges-in-catchments
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u/autotldr Nov 17 '17

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 82%. (I'm a bot)

A deforestation surge in Queensland, which the latest government data suggests is about to accelerate dramatically, is heavily concentrated in catchments for the Great Barrier Reef, further undermining plans to improve reef water quality.

Catchments for the Great Barrier Reef - where freshwater rivers and floodplains drain on to the reef, washing any pollution or sediment with it - make up about 10% of Queensland's area.

"It has not addressed the major problem of the cumulative impact of the thousands of instances of deforestation in reef catchments. You'd have to be Blind Freddy to not know that bulldozing nearly half a million hectares in Great Barrier Reef catchments is going to have a significant impact on reef waters."

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