| Hi NEVILLE,
I’ve got bad news about Abbot Point and the Great Barrier Reef.
The Queensland Government is still pushing ahead with plans to dredge 3 million tonnes of seabed in the Reef World Heritage Area at Abbot Point, only now instead of dumping the waste at sea, they intend to dump it in the majestic Caley Valley wetlands.
Last week, the government invited feedback on the plans, but gave us just ten days to respond! We have to ensure the government reject these plans and protect the critical wetlands.
We need your help. Can you please click here now and let Minister for State Development, Jeff Seeney, know this proposal can’t go ahead.
The dredging itself will destroy 97 hectares of seagrass habitat that turtles and dugong rely on for food.
And the dredge waste ponds will be built on top of the wetlands, metres from the coastline. Over 100 hectares of threatened bird habitat will be destroyed and the tailwater from the ponds will be pumped straight back into the Reef World Heritage Area.
We’ve got a team working on putting together an urgent detailed submission showing just how wrong this is, but we all need to demand Mr Seeney reject this proposal right now for the sake of the wetlands and the Reef.
We’ll also send your submission to Australian Environment Minister Greg Hunt – he’ll have a final say in this matter so it’s important he sees all these submissions too.
Please help protect the Reef by lodging a submission of your own. Click here to send a submission now.
Thanks for being with us on this – it’s critical we do everything we can right now.
Louise Matthiesson
Great Barrier Reef Campaigner
WWF-Australia |
