1 Million Women’s ‘1M DECLARING THE REEF IN DANGER’ campaign has reached its first milestone of 10,000 signatories in just a couple of weeks, but the real battle is only just beginning. Thank-you so much to everyone who has added your name to our open letter to the world heritage committee. Please keep telling everyone you know because we want to reach a lot more women who share our passionate concern for the Great Barrier Reef. We want to reach at least 100,000. This year’s first big international decision point for the future of the Reef’s listing as World Heritage is now just days away. On Friday, May 2, scientific and heritage experts from UNESCO* and the IUCN* are scheduled to release their evaluation reports on the Reef’s state of conservation for consideration by the World Heritage Committee.
Basically there are three main ways the UNESCO and IUCN panels could go with their key recommendations:
• Option 1. Support the Australian Government and recommend lifting the threat of formal ‘World Heritage in Danger’ listing for the reef, as the Government has proposed (1MW rating = very bad outcome)
• Option 2. Support major conservation groups like WWF Australia and the Australian Marine Conservation Society, which say the reef is in crisis, and back their calls for the ‘in Danger’ review process to be continued in 2014 and into 2015 (1MW rating = moderately good outcome)
• Option 3. Up the ante by calling for immediate ‘in Danger’ listing from June 2014, as has happened in the past to other iconic natural World Heritage sites like Yellowstone in America and the Galapagos Islands off Ecuador. (1MW rating = best outcome)
The World Heritage Committee, made up of representatives of 21 member nations of UNESCO, will make its decision at its annual meeting in June, this year being held in Qatar. The Reef also was on the agenda for the committee last year, and it deferred consideration for 12 months until the Qatar meeting. 1 Million Women has written to the heads of the World Heritage Committee itself, UNESCO and the IUCN – all of whom are women – calling on them to ensure the Reef is protected for future generations. Soon we’ll be updating them on the response to our ‘1M DECLARING THE REEF IN DANGER’ campaign – the 10,000+ signatories so far and some of the inspiring comments our supporters have written.
1 Million Women believes that Option 3 above is warranted – however we also accept that Option 2 will keep pressure on the Australian Government for at least another year, until June 2015, which gives time for people everywhere to wake up to the peril faced by one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Please add your name and join us, click here: http://reef.1millionwomen.com.au/ Did you like this post? Then JOIN 1 MILLION WOMEN! Join us in taking practical action on dangerous climate change through the way that we live, the choices we make and the way we spend our money.