Chinese walker

The Great Barrier Reef — the world`s largest coral reef and the only living thing on earth visible from space – is one of Australia`s great natural gifts. It is home to an abundance of marine life and known for its thousands of individual reef systems, coral cays and hundreds of tropical isles.

Reefs are important ecologically, economically and socially. In many parts of the developing tropical world, coastal communities depend primarily on them for food and protection from storm-generated waves. In Australia, the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) generates billions of dollars annually, mainly from tourism. “The whole nation is proud of it,” says Graeme Kelleher, who served for many years as chairman and chief executive officer of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.

“Ecologically, the GBR protects most of the Queensland coast — more than 2,200 kilometres — from erosion and the destructive effects of storms,” Kelleher explains. “The biological diversity of the GBR is very high — more than 350 species of reef-building corals and more than 1,500 species of fish. It is regarded internationally as one of the best-protected reefs in the world, being enclosed in a World Heritage Area and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.”

“The Great Barrier Reef contains many outstanding examples of important and significant natural habitats for in situ conservation of species of conservation significance,” added Kelleher, who is also a former vice-chairman of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Commission on Protected Areas. “It contains more than 2,900 individual reefs, covering more than 24,000 square kilometres, as well as about 980 islands.”

In the wake of the grounding of the Chinese coal-carrier Shen Neng 1 on the reef`s Douglas Shoal earlier this month, Australia announced that it would extend a satellite ship-tracking system to cover all of the massive reef, to reduce the risk such an incident occurring again. The system, currently in place for most of the GBR, would be extended south, Agence France-Presse said, and would force all ships to report their positions for tracking. The change must be ratified by the International Maritime Organisation, however, because much of the area is outside Australia`s territorial waters.

Until then, Australian transport minister Anthony Albanese said, safety agencies “will begin rolling out the infrastructure necessary to support the reporting system, such as sensors, communications equipment and modified navigational software. By beginning this work now, our authorities will be fully ready for the start of mandatory reporting in July 2011.”

In the Shen Neng 1 accident, oil spillage from the now-refloated ship`s tanks appears to be relatively minimal, with the greatest damage coming in the form of a three-kilometre-long scar gouged into the coral – and possible additional damage from the vessel`s paint.

The environmental scare, however, has heightened the urgency of efforts to ensure that ships can safely negotiate the Great Barrier Reef`s sensitive waters. “The key thing that we see is needed alongside this tracking system is to have pilots onboard every large ship that traverses the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage area,” the BBC quoted Richard Leck of WWF Australia as saying. Such professional navigators, he said, can prevent accidents. “Most of the incidents that occur within the World Heritage area are due to human error.”

Kelleher sees long-term benefit from the Chinese ship incident “in that without doubt, specific action will now be taken to ensure that large vessels in the future will be forced to navigate through the reef in even closer accordance with the very strict rules than is normal nowadays. It needs to be recognised that those rules are enforced strictly now.”

“This accident is without doubt a major navigational error,” Kelleher added. “A lateral error of 12 kilometres in navigation is really bad and unusual. I support the idea of large vessels carrying toxic cargo through the Great Barrier Reef being required by law to be guided by a specialised marine pilot in charge.”

On 11 June 1770, six weeks or so after becoming the first European to make landfall on the east coast of Australia, Lieutenant James Cook unexpectedly ran aground. His ship, the Endeavour, had struck a reef now known as the Endeavour Reef, within a manifestly far bigger reef system, nearly 40 kilometres from shore. Only the urgent jettisoning of 50 tonnes of stores and equipment (including all but four of the ship`s guns), a delicate operation known as fothering (in which an old sail was drawn under the hull, effectively plugging the hole), Cook`s expert seamanship and a great deal of hard pumping saved the vessel and her crew.

It would be another 30-odd years before the great English explorer and cartographer Matthew Flinders, having circumnavigated the entirety of Terra Australis Incognita, the Unknown Southern Land, gave the vast reef system its name. But despite his astonishing success in charting a safe passage through its treacherous waters, mainly by the expedient of sending small boats ahead to sound the depths, Flinders himself was later stranded on it while heading home for England in 1803.

For nearly 250 years, the Great Barrier Reef has been a hazard to shipping. It is the world’s largest reef system, made up of more than 2,900 coral reefs and 900 islands scattered over 344,400 square kilometres off the coast of Queensland in north-east Australia. Covering an area bigger than the United Kingdom, it is also a priceless and unimaginably fragile world heritage site, home to 30 species of whales, dolphins and porpoises; six species of sea turtles; 125 species of shark, stingray and skate; 5,000 species of mollusc; nine species of seahorse; 215 species of birds; 17 species of sea snake; 2,195 known plant species and more than 1,500 species of fish.

And it is still a hazard to shipping. In recent years, its pristine waters, in theory protected by the statutes of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, have become known as the “coal highway”, a busy thoroughfare for foreign-owned bulk carriers bound for Asia. Laden with coal and fuel oil from Australia, thousands of ships — such as the Chinese-owned Shen Neng 1, which ran aground off the country`s eastern seaboard on April 3 — continue to jeopardise the largest marine conservation site in the world. As salvage teams worked to prevent disaster, environmentalists were not slow to accuse the government of turning a blind eye to the problem.

“This is the $60-billion-a-year, largely foreign-owned coal industry that is making a coal highway out of the Great Barrier Reef,” said Bob Brown, leader of the Australian Greens party. “There needs to be a radical overview of this huge coal-export industry, whether these ships need to use the reef at all, and what the alternatives are,” he said. Local fishermen have dubbed it the “reef rat run”, saying ships routinely take short cuts to save time and money on their voyage to China.

It was this so-called short cut, near the Douglas Shoal, off Rockhampton, that is believed to have caused the Shen Neng 1 accident. According to reports, the 230-metre-long ship, carrying 975 tonnes of heavy fuel oil and 65,000 tonnes of coal, was travelling at full speed when it hit a sandbank in a protected part of the Great Barrier Reef. Its fuel tank ruptured, causing a three-kilometre-long oil slick.

[After the vessel was refloated on April 12, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority`s senior scientist, David Wachenfeld, said the ship had gouged a channel about three kilometres long in the reef.]

The Queensland premier, Anna Bligh, has said the ship`s owner, Shenzhen Energy – which allegedly has been involved in three major international incidents in four years – could face a fine of up to one million Australian dollars (nearly US$930,000) for straying from a shipping lane that is currently used by some 6,000 cargo vessels each year.

The stricken ship was travelling to China from Gladstone, a port playing a growing role in the booming export trade of Australia`s natural resources to Asia. The incident follows a similar accident in March last year when 60 kilometres of Queensland`s south-east coast were declared a disaster area after 42 tonnes of oil spilled into the ocean from the MV Pacific Adventurer during a cyclone.

Conservationists say the fact that there is no legal requirement to have marine pilots on board ships in the area, to guide them safely through the 2,500-kilometre reef system, puts it in grave danger. “The current lack of safeguards around shipping in the Great Barrier Reef is akin to playing Russian roulette with one of the world`s most treasured natural icons,” says Gilly Llewellyn, the conservation director of WWF Australia, who called for ships to be piloted. She also wants improved monitoring systems so authorities know where large vessels are situated on the reef at all times.

The Australasian Marine Pilots Institute (AMPI), the organising body for Australia`s marine pilots, says the grounding of the Shen Neng 1 should focus attention on the lack of protection Australia`s maritime regulations afford the reef. An Australian maritime law expert, Peter Glover, says public opinion and government legislative reaction to marine pollution by commercial shipping in the Great Barrier Reef have got noticeably tougher since 1996, when the Panamanian-flagged vessel Peacock, en route from Singapore to New Zealand via the inner route of the Great Barrier Reef, ran aground on Piper Reef. The ship was carrying approximately 605 tonnes of bunker heavy fuel oil, and its owners were not even prosecuted.

Following the grounding of the 22,000-tonne Malaysian-flagged container vessel Bunga Teratai Satu on Sudbury Reef in 2001, legislative changes were introduced to allow both state and Commonwealth authorities to prosecute those who pollute in the waters surrounding the reef.

Those changes were put to the test almost immediately in the wake of another potentially catastrophic grounding the following year, of the Greek-flagged bulk carrier Doric Chariot. But Peter Glover believes it still “remains to be seen %26hellip; how effective legislative changes are in addressing the prosecution of individuals responsible for causing damage” in the reef.

Inspecting the scene from the air, Australia`s prime minister, Kevin Rudd, expressed concern that the Shen Neng 1, balancing precariously in the crystal-clear waters, had strayed so far from official shipping lanes. “From where I see it, it is outrageous that any vessel could find itself 12 kilometres off-course, it seems, in the Great Barrier Reef,” Rudd told reporters in tropical Queensland, where the reef park is a major tourist draw. He pledged an overhaul of measures to protect the Great Barrier Reef from any future environmental disasters. “There is no greater natural asset for Australia than the Great Barrier Reef,” he said.

But maritime traffic through the Great Barrier Reef is projected only to increase, with contracts reportedly signed for the export of US$60 billion worth of liquefied natural gas from coal seams as shrinking resources spur energy companies to turn to unconventional gas reserves to feed Asian demand. Work is under way to expand the port of Gladstone in Queensland to lift capacity by up to 25 million tonnes a year, driven by surging demand from Japan, South Korea, India and China.

Local fishermen fear any increase in traffic will put Australia`s most precious environmental asset at further risk. “We see ships through there every day,” Graham Scott, who has been fishing and chartering boats on the reef for 40 years, told the Sydney Morning Herald. “We see many, many boats within 15 miles [24 kilometres] of that spot [where the Shen Neng 1 grounded]. One or two boats a day, every time we`re out. We`ve assumed in the past that they`re not coal boats, because what would a coal boat be doing there?”

www.guardian.co.uk/

Copyright Guardian News and Media Limited 2010

If societies express their values through the laws they make, one single legal change would completely transform our understanding of the %26shy;relationship between nature and humankind: giving nature rights. And that change would be our best weapon in fighting climate change because it would give nature a voice on how we regulate the earth.

The idea of “wild law” has been around since the 1960s, when writers questioned whether trees should have standing. But now enacting those ideas is a matter of our survival on this planet.

Laws that recognise the world as a legal person with rights and remedies that can be enforced nationally and internationally would create a duty of care towards the environment. It is strange that we have a duty of care towards our “neighbour”, but that in law nature is not considered our neighbour. If we value the natural world we need for life, we can prove it by giving it and its components – rivers, forests, species, habitats, ecosystems – sufficient standing in law to enable proceedings to be brought on their behalf. Our legal system already does this for “non-%26shy;persons” such as companies, charities, clubs and others.

Give the sea rights, and overfishing would not be a matter of quotas set by governments but of balancing the rights of fish and humans. If the atmosphere could be a legal entity, its representative would have a say in carbon trading. A river with a right to flow continually being harmed by damming would require the courts to intervene in deciding whether the human need is greater than that of the river to subsist.

This is not as far fetched as it sounds. It is entirely consistent with the 1982 UN World Charter for Nature, ratified by more than 150 United Nations members but lacking enforcement mechanisms to give it real teeth. It is the logical outcome of its 2002 successor, the Earth Charter.

Practically, how do we do this? British courts could expand the definition of who our neighbour is to include nature and thus create a legal duty of care toward the earth. At European Union level, we then pass a declaration of nature`s rights, which would, like the declaration of human rights, be implemented by each of the member states in an Earth Rights Act like our Human Rights Act. This would be enforced by our national courts and influence the regulators` decision-making.

Internationally, we need to refocus what is contained in the World Charter for Nature, which sets out “human duties towards the earth”, and create “earth rights”. Any declaration needs to be coupled with giving enforcement powers to our international institutions; otherwise the declaration will create positive debate but not be effective.

Language is a powerful tool, and we want to stop talking about the planet as a “resource”. There has to be a better understanding of how humans affect the planet – so teach people where their plastic water bottle ends up and where their food comes from. We can also redefine the “public interest” to include the interest of nature.

Some would argue granting rights is only part of the solution, but it will cause the shift in thinking we require to decarbonise our society. As Wangari Maathai, winner of the 2004 Nobel peace prize, said: “The need to forge a new and healthier relationship between the human race and the planet that sustains us could not be more urgent.” Let`s not be known as the “age of stupid” but as the age that walked on the wild side of the law and brought radical change to the way we think about law and about nature to stave off the perfect storm.

Begonia Filgueira and Ian Mason are co-authors of the report Wild Law by the UK Environmental Law Association (UKELA) and the Gaia Foundation.

www.guardian.co.uk

Copyright Guardian News and Media Limited 2009

Homepage image by Jim’s outside photos

Stewed turtle cures cancer, crocodile meat relieves asthma, pangolin scales regulate menstruation and scorpion venom helps stroke victims.

Such is the traditional wisdom in Guangdong province, where animal markets teem with snakes, scorpions, salamander and dozens of different species of birds and turtles, some of which are endangered and all of which are fated to end their lives in restaurants, pharmacies or pet cages.

Eating rare wildlife is normal in southern China, but a growing group of student activists is trying to do something considered far stranger: they are trying to save them.

The nascent NGO conservation movement is stepping in where the authorities have had limited success by monitoring markets and restaurants, reporting sales of endangered species and trying to change the consumer culture. Among the youngest of several small groups is the Asian Turtle Rehabilitation Project, established earlier this year to save the reptiles from the soup pot.

The founding members say they are trying to cross the divide between the culture in which they were raised and the global conservation concerns they have been exposed to via the internet and schooling.

They are surrounded by people who think it`s a wasted effort. “They disapprove of this activity. They think turtles are small animals only good for eating — so why bother saving them?” says Luo Xinmei, a local student. “Almost no one in Guangzhou realises this is a centre of the illegal wildlife trade.”

They are up against tradition and economic growth. Guangdong is the richest and most powerful province in southern China, where the appetite for exotic animals and plants is seen as extreme even in most other regions of China.

The main reason is Chinese traditional medicine, which lists curative qualities in many exotic animals. It is believed that the wilder the animal or plant, the better the effects. A popular saying has it that people here will eat anything with four legs except a chair, anything that flies except a plane and anything in the water except a boat.

Demand dropped briefly after 2003, when the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) crisis was blamed on pathogens spread by civet cats and other wild animals. But it has surged back since as rising incomes allow more consumers to indulge in foods that were once considered delicacies for the very rich. A survey by the conservation group Traffic last year found that almost half of city dwellers had eaten wild animals in the previous 12 months.

The impact has been devastating. While international attention tends to focus on big mammals such as the Sumatran tiger and the giant panda, many reptiles have quietly been pushed to the brink of extinction, including the three-stripe box turtle, the Roti Island snake-neck turtle and the Malaysian giant turtle. Turtles are among the most threatened because they breed slowly and their meat is considered good for longevity.

Raising awareness takes a number of forms. The group has secretly taken images of a turtle being butchered and posted them online. But its main job is monitoring. On a recent visit to the city`s Qingping and Huadiwan markets, Wen Zhenyu identified big-headed turtles, pig-nosed turtles, Chinese three-striped box turtle and elongated tortoises among the many species that are meant to be protected by international treaty.

While China is not the only culprit in the consumption of wild animals, it is the biggest. And its impact is being felt across the region. In February, %26shy;Vietnamese authorities seized a record haul of %26shy;illegally harvested wildlife products, including two tons of tiger bones, bear paws and gall bladders. %26shy;Reports the same month from Laos revealed the ongoing poaching of tiger. The biggest market for these products is China, where a tiger`s bones and penis can fetch US$70,000.

The authorities launch occasional raids on restaurants and dealers. In April, Guangzhou wildlife protection officials intercepted a cargo of smuggled golden pheasant, sand badger, leopard cat and other animals.

The Guardian found two food outlets in the Conghua hot spring resort outside Guangzhou openly breaking the law by serving pangolin and other protected animals. One restaurant charges 1,000 yuan (about US$150) per kilogramme of pangolin meat. “You need to pay in advance and then we will find one for you,” said an employee. “We can cook it in a hotpot or braise it in soy sauce.” Nearby, another restaurant illegally offers cobra. “It is 100 yuan per half-kilo,” said a waiter. “We get it from the wild.”

Conservationists believe police alone cannot solve the problem. “We need to build consumer awareness so people move away from unsustainable consumption towards a feeling of stewardship,” said James Compton, the Asia-Pacific coordinator of Traffic.

Activists from another group, Green Eyes, recently scored a major victory by protesting outside a Guangzhou restaurant where a nurse shark was held in a small tank in which it could barely move. With banners reading “No consuming, no killing” in English and Chinese, the campaigners received widespread coverage from local news channels. They eventually secured the release of the shark.

Zheng Yuanying, of Green Eyes, said the focus was not on the owners but on the consumers. “We avoid conflict. We just try to make suggestions. But some people think we care about animals too much.”

For many species, it may be too late. The Wildlife Conservation Society reports a sharp decline in the diversity of freshwater turtles, snakes and frogs in the wild, though many species, including crocodiles, are being bred successfully in captivity.

At Qingping market, a veteran snake seller says the market sells fewer species than before because many animals are extinct and the authorities are conducting stricter checks. But he admits to selling some protected species under the table. “Even if people know an animal is endangered, they will eat it if they have a disease that cannot be cured with other types of medicine.”

One notorious market in Nansha has been closed, but conservationists fear the wild animal business is simply being pushed underground.

At 4am in a dark suburb of Taiping, about an hour`s drive from downtown Guangzhou, the Guardian found exotic-animal traders covertly plying their wares out of sight of the authorities and conservationists. The three long rows of sheds resembled a cramped and dirty zoo filled with wire cages: long and tall for the herons, flat and low for the civet cats. Ostriches have room to move their necks, but not their bodies. There are similar markets throughout southern China.

The activists say the key is changing attitudes. “We try to educate people that turtles are not only pets and not only food; they are also a friend of %26shy;humans,” Wen Zhenyu says.

www.guardian.co.uk

Copyright Guardian News and Media Limited, 2009

Homepage photo by VLKR