Queensland Premier Anna Bligh will on Friday address a summit aimed at saving the Great Barrier Reef.
The
Reef Water Quality Summit, which will be held at Parliament House in
Brisbane, was prompted a damning report on the health of the reef
released earlier this month.
According to the report, 6.6
million tonnes of sediment had been discharged into the reef in 2007 –
four times higher than estimated pre-European settlement levels.
The
federal government has set a target of reducing nutrient and chemical
discharge from land to the reef by 25 per cent by 2010.
Bligh said the summit – which will bring together farmers,
environmentalists, scientists and government officials – was vital for
the future of the reef.
“We have had a lot of effort put in over
the last five years, but recent scientific reports indicate that that
effort has not been enough and it has not been happening fast enough,” Bligh said.
“So I want to hear from all those groups who are
using the reef and who are concerned about it, ideas to accelerate the
work that we are doing to improve water quality.”
