新奇事件簿 澳大利亞向大堡礁傾倒淤泥

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Australia's government has approved a plan to dump massive amounts of sludge in the Great Barrier Reef. The mud will come from a project to expand a coal port at Abbot Point, on the coast near the reef. The decision to give the go-ahead to the dumping of the sludge was made by Australia's Environment Minister in December. It has caused environmentalists to be up in arms about the possible damage to the world's largest and most famous coral reef. They say it is outrageous to put corporate profits ahead of such an important marine environment. About 3 million cubic meters of mud will be poured into the reef's waters. Authorities say the sludge will not be dumped on top of any coral.

澳大利亞政府許可向大堡礁傾倒淤泥的方案。這項計劃將擴寬艾博特角的煤炭碼頭，艾博特角位于大堡礁海岸線附近。這一向大堡礁傾倒淤泥的決定是在11月份由澳大利亞環(huán)境部長所決定的。這導致了環(huán)境保護主義者的抗議，這一舉措將很有可能對全球最大，最著名的珊瑚礁產(chǎn)生影響。他們認為將企業(yè)利益放在海洋環(huán)境之上是讓人惱火的。計劃將有大約300萬立方米淤泥傾倒在珊瑚礁海域。有關(guān)部門稱淤泥將不會傾倒在任何珊瑚礁上面。

The Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system. It stretches for over 2,600 kilometres, covering an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres. It receives special protection from Australia's government to limit the impact of fishing and tourism. Climate change is already damaging its delicate ecosystems by bleaching and killing the coral. The reef creates $3 billion a year in tourism revenue. Greenpeace warned that the dumping, "is one more body blow for the Reef which further threatens marine life, its World Heritage status and Australia's tourism and fishing industries". The World Wildlife Fund said the decision marked, "a sad day for the reef and anyone who cares about its future".

大堡礁是全球最大的珊瑚礁系統(tǒng)。其長度超過了2600公里，占地面積大約為34萬4400平方公里。這里受到了澳大利亞政府的保護，并限制漁業(yè)和旅游對這里造成的影響。氣候變化所導致的珊瑚漂白化導致許多珊瑚死亡，并影響了這里脆弱的生態(tài)系統(tǒng)。每年，珊瑚為旅游業(yè)增加30億美金的收入。綠色和平組織警告說這一傾倒行為又給珊瑚致命一擊，這將進一步對海洋生物、世界遺產(chǎn)地位、澳大利亞旅游業(yè)、漁業(yè)構(gòu)成威脅。世界野生動物基金會認為這一決定對珊瑚以及那些擔憂其未來的人來說是難過的一天。