1 00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:03,120 Speaker 1: Good morning everybody. Welcome to the Daily OS. It is 2 00:00:03,120 --> 00:00:05,440 Speaker 1: the twenty eighth of March. Gosh, it is good to 3 00:00:05,480 --> 00:00:08,360 Speaker 1: be back. I had a bit of time off the podcast. 4 00:00:08,560 --> 00:00:11,440 Speaker 1: My dulcet tones have been missing from your ears. But 5 00:00:11,480 --> 00:00:14,000 Speaker 1: you got Tom so that's a pretty good result. And 6 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:17,800 Speaker 1: of course you had the Pillar Zara sidelight joining you 7 00:00:17,880 --> 00:00:19,520 Speaker 1: last week. It's good to be back. I'm going to 8 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:22,000 Speaker 1: tell you where I was and why I left you 9 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:25,279 Speaker 1: gorgeous listeners alone for a week. It's all going to 10 00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:27,520 Speaker 1: make sense very very soon, Zara. Let's kick off with 11 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:28,960 Speaker 1: stories and then we can get into it. 12 00:00:30,480 --> 00:00:32,519 Speaker 2: Not sure if I am going to take being described 13 00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:34,400 Speaker 2: as a pillar as a compliment or an insult, so 14 00:00:34,440 --> 00:00:37,240 Speaker 2: we will move straight on from that. But US President 15 00:00:37,320 --> 00:00:40,440 Speaker 2: Joe Biden has spark some international concern over the weekend 16 00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:45,160 Speaker 2: over comments made about Russian President Vladimir Pudin, who Biden said, 17 00:00:45,400 --> 00:00:48,559 Speaker 2: quote cannot remain in power. The White House was very 18 00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:51,840 Speaker 2: quick to qualify the president's remarks in a statement thereafter, 19 00:00:52,280 --> 00:00:54,880 Speaker 2: explaining that Biden wasn't actually calling for a change to 20 00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:58,440 Speaker 2: Russia's government. The Kremlin issued a short statement saying the 21 00:00:58,480 --> 00:01:00,680 Speaker 2: president of Russia is elected Russians. 22 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:04,559 Speaker 1: It's an anxious day for residents of northern New South 23 00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:07,120 Speaker 1: Wales who've been urged to prepare for heavy rainfall with 24 00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:10,520 Speaker 1: the potential of flash flooding. It's meant to hit later 25 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:14,679 Speaker 1: today and continue into tomorrow. The New South Wales SES 26 00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:17,840 Speaker 1: say they have extra emergency crews on standby, with the 27 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:21,920 Speaker 1: Northern Zones SEES Commander Scott mcclennan saying we understand you're tired, 28 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:25,280 Speaker 1: We understand you're battered. We are as well. However, we 29 00:01:25,319 --> 00:01:26,080 Speaker 1: are there with you. 30 00:01:27,440 --> 00:01:30,960 Speaker 2: Chinese state media has announced there were no survivors from 31 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:35,000 Speaker 2: the crash China Eastern passenger plane, after recovering the second 32 00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:37,639 Speaker 2: black box from the flight. The cause of the crash 33 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:40,560 Speaker 2: that killed one hundred and thirty two passengers and nine 34 00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:43,720 Speaker 2: crew members, all of whom were Chinese nationals, is not 35 00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:44,560 Speaker 2: yet known. 36 00:01:45,600 --> 00:01:48,000 Speaker 1: And today's good news. We cannot go past the magical 37 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:51,240 Speaker 1: sporting moment in Australian history that occurred at the SG 38 00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:55,080 Speaker 1: on Friday night, with Lance Buddy Franklin kicking his one 39 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:59,279 Speaker 1: thousandth goal in AFL matches. He only becomes the sixth 40 00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:01,280 Speaker 1: player in history to do so. The last time it 41 00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:04,040 Speaker 1: happened was at the SCG in nineteen ninety five. 42 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:14,120 Speaker 2: A UN delegation is currently in North Queensland examining the 43 00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:17,240 Speaker 2: state of the Great Barrier Reef. Now they're there to 44 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:20,480 Speaker 2: examine whether a bleaching event has occurred on the reef. 45 00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:24,079 Speaker 2: But days into their trip it was declared that Australia's 46 00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:28,280 Speaker 2: natural wonder had indeed suffered its sixth massive bleaching event, 47 00:02:28,760 --> 00:02:31,600 Speaker 2: raising concerns that it is nearing a tipping point of 48 00:02:31,639 --> 00:02:35,080 Speaker 2: no return. Sam, the mystery is gone. You were in 49 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:38,000 Speaker 2: the Great Barrier Reef to see the bleaching for yourself. 50 00:02:38,040 --> 00:02:41,080 Speaker 2: Before you tell me what you saw firsthand, first, just 51 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:43,639 Speaker 2: explain to me what a bleaching event actually is. 52 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:46,960 Speaker 1: So I think it's best to explain this in the 53 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:50,920 Speaker 1: context specifically of the Great Barrier Reef, because apparently it 54 00:02:50,960 --> 00:02:54,000 Speaker 1: does change from reef to reef around the world. So 55 00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:56,920 Speaker 1: if we focus on the Barrier Reef, it's basically a 56 00:02:56,960 --> 00:02:59,680 Speaker 1: system of seven hundred and fifty reefs split up into 57 00:02:59,720 --> 00:03:03,800 Speaker 1: four key regions. There's the far Northern Can's Cooktown where 58 00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:08,520 Speaker 1: I was, Townsville with Sunday and Mackay Capricorn. For a 59 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:11,560 Speaker 1: mass bleaching event to be declared there needs to be 60 00:03:11,639 --> 00:03:15,320 Speaker 1: signs from aerial surveys that there is widespread breaching across 61 00:03:15,360 --> 00:03:18,400 Speaker 1: the reef in all four of those areas. So Zara 62 00:03:18,639 --> 00:03:21,560 Speaker 1: I actually said to one of our guides there, it's 63 00:03:21,639 --> 00:03:24,600 Speaker 1: kind of like changing the Australian constitution. You need a 64 00:03:24,639 --> 00:03:29,240 Speaker 1: certain percentage to be in agreeance across a certain number 65 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:31,560 Speaker 1: of different states and territories. It's a bit of a 66 00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:34,880 Speaker 1: dodgy analogy, but I'm making the point that it has 67 00:03:34,920 --> 00:03:38,080 Speaker 1: to be everywhere. So in this case, the Great Barrier 68 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:41,080 Speaker 1: reef authorities have said that sixty percent of the reef 69 00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:45,960 Speaker 1: is currently bleached, and when you see sort of fluorescent pigments, 70 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:49,680 Speaker 1: that's actually the coral in distress. It's an attempt to 71 00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:53,240 Speaker 1: protect themselves from heat. The heat is from both the 72 00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:58,360 Speaker 1: intense sun but also from then the resulting warmer water. Interestingly, 73 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:00,920 Speaker 1: this is the first mass bleaching event during a La 74 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:04,000 Speaker 1: Nina system, and that is significant because a lot of 75 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:06,880 Speaker 1: the bleaching events have happened during an El Nino system. 76 00:04:07,480 --> 00:04:10,720 Speaker 1: Six bleaching events have happened since the early nineteen hundreds, 77 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:13,680 Speaker 1: but four have happened since twenty sixteen, and this will 78 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:17,240 Speaker 1: actually be the fifth since twenty sixteen and the seventh 79 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:19,000 Speaker 1: on the reef. So when I was up at the 80 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:21,400 Speaker 1: Barrier Reef and I think there's more to come with 81 00:04:21,560 --> 00:04:24,279 Speaker 1: our journey to the Barrier Reef later on the Daily Oz, 82 00:04:24,480 --> 00:04:26,159 Speaker 1: I just want to give you a little sneak peak 83 00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:29,080 Speaker 1: of what we talked about because it is so topical today. 84 00:04:29,800 --> 00:04:32,720 Speaker 1: But it was explained to us as being similar to bushfires, 85 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:35,479 Speaker 1: and the idea was that if there was a mass 86 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:38,120 Speaker 1: bleaching event and the reef was given five to ten 87 00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:42,080 Speaker 1: years to recover, similar to the regeneration of a bushfire 88 00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:44,840 Speaker 1: area after a bushfire, the reef would actually be okay. 89 00:04:45,279 --> 00:04:49,279 Speaker 1: The problem is that there is repetitive bleaching events in 90 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:52,760 Speaker 1: very short periods of time, so any sort of regeneration 91 00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:56,160 Speaker 1: on the reef ends up being destroyed by another heat 92 00:04:56,200 --> 00:04:58,000 Speaker 1: wave and another bleaching event. 93 00:04:58,200 --> 00:05:00,599 Speaker 2: Okay, So Sam, what did you actually s see when 94 00:05:00,680 --> 00:05:03,120 Speaker 2: you were at the reef? Was it as bad as 95 00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:03,960 Speaker 2: you thought it would be? 96 00:05:04,279 --> 00:05:07,120 Speaker 1: It was worse, Zara, It really was worse. I had 97 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:10,400 Speaker 1: quite an emotional response to what we were seeing on 98 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:12,200 Speaker 1: the reef. It was hard to see the lack of 99 00:05:12,279 --> 00:05:14,680 Speaker 1: color and the lack of life on the reef. It 100 00:05:14,920 --> 00:05:19,040 Speaker 1: was really troubling that some of the areas that tourists 101 00:05:19,080 --> 00:05:21,120 Speaker 1: were being taken to because they are known to be 102 00:05:21,240 --> 00:05:25,760 Speaker 1: the most beautiful, were indeed being bleached themselves. The interesting 103 00:05:25,800 --> 00:05:29,520 Speaker 1: thing about the current state of bleaching that I saw 104 00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:32,320 Speaker 1: was that the fluorescence that I was talking about with 105 00:05:32,400 --> 00:05:34,640 Speaker 1: the tips of the coral being this kind of bright, 106 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:38,520 Speaker 1: highlighted colors, is actually really beautiful, and that it kind 107 00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:41,960 Speaker 1: of leads to a bit of a cognitive dissonance because 108 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:44,520 Speaker 1: you see something that is so magnificent and so beautiful, 109 00:05:44,760 --> 00:05:47,480 Speaker 1: but you know that it is coral in pain. There 110 00:05:47,560 --> 00:05:50,360 Speaker 1: were fish that I saw that were bleached themselves that 111 00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:53,599 Speaker 1: comes from bleached, an enemy being grown in the middle 112 00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:56,719 Speaker 1: of a mass bleaching event and a heat wave. And 113 00:05:56,760 --> 00:05:59,440 Speaker 1: another observation was just how down warm the water was. 114 00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:02,640 Speaker 1: It was definitely warmer than it should have been, and 115 00:06:02,760 --> 00:06:05,479 Speaker 1: speaking to all the local tourism operators, they were saying that, 116 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:07,359 Speaker 1: you know, the two or three degrees warmer for this 117 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:10,360 Speaker 1: time of year is significant. They're used to warm water 118 00:06:10,400 --> 00:06:13,080 Speaker 1: between kind of November and February. Now they're looking at 119 00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:16,720 Speaker 1: a warmer water period of between September and April. So 120 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:19,480 Speaker 1: it was a really formulative experience for me. We're going 121 00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:22,039 Speaker 1: to be seeing a lot more content from this trip 122 00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:24,200 Speaker 1: on the daily OS in the weeks to come. But 123 00:06:24,640 --> 00:06:27,880 Speaker 1: I can tell you now that the sense of realizing 124 00:06:27,920 --> 00:06:30,039 Speaker 1: that my grandchildren might not be able to see the 125 00:06:30,080 --> 00:06:33,680 Speaker 1: reef in its best form was heartbreaking. 126 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:36,320 Speaker 2: Okay, and tell me about the role of the UN 127 00:06:36,360 --> 00:06:39,600 Speaker 2: and its agencies in a situation like this. Can they 128 00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:41,760 Speaker 2: declare the reef to be in danger? 129 00:06:41,920 --> 00:06:45,080 Speaker 1: So this UN delegation is currently in the Great Barrier Reef. 130 00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:48,360 Speaker 1: They were highly secretive about where they were going, what 131 00:06:48,440 --> 00:06:51,000 Speaker 1: particular parts of the reef they were seeing. There were 132 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:54,000 Speaker 1: some concerns from tourism operators I spoke to on the 133 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:57,479 Speaker 1: grounds in Port Douglas and in Cans that the UN 134 00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:00,640 Speaker 1: representatives would only be shown particular parts to the reef 135 00:07:00,680 --> 00:07:04,640 Speaker 1: that were undamaged by bleaching events, and I wasn't able 136 00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:06,440 Speaker 1: to verify this one way or the other. I spent 137 00:07:06,520 --> 00:07:08,280 Speaker 1: quite a lot of time on Twitter trying to work 138 00:07:08,320 --> 00:07:12,240 Speaker 1: out where these UN delegation officials were with no success. 139 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:15,240 Speaker 1: So their aim in their visit to the reef is 140 00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:17,559 Speaker 1: to assess the health of the reef and decide whether 141 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:19,960 Speaker 1: the reef should be added to the World Heritage en 142 00:07:20,040 --> 00:07:23,320 Speaker 1: Danger List. This is separate to the Great Barrier Reef 143 00:07:23,400 --> 00:07:26,840 Speaker 1: Authority declaring a mass bleaching event from their aerial surveillance. 144 00:07:27,400 --> 00:07:29,360 Speaker 1: They're set to be there for ten days. It's been 145 00:07:29,400 --> 00:07:31,400 Speaker 1: about seven now, so i'd say that at the end 146 00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:34,680 Speaker 1: of their trip, and last year one of their fellow agencies, 147 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:39,040 Speaker 1: the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and we 148 00:07:39,080 --> 00:07:42,200 Speaker 1: know them as UNESCO, they recommended putting the reef on 149 00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:44,760 Speaker 1: the list, so that recommendation is clearly making its way 150 00:07:44,840 --> 00:07:48,200 Speaker 1: through the arms of the UN. According to the BBC, 151 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:51,680 Speaker 1: if this recommendation is followed by the committee, it'll be 152 00:07:51,680 --> 00:07:54,480 Speaker 1: the first time in history that a natural World Heritage 153 00:07:54,520 --> 00:07:57,000 Speaker 1: site has been added to the list, mostly because of 154 00:07:57,040 --> 00:07:59,040 Speaker 1: the impacts from climate change. 155 00:07:59,200 --> 00:08:03,320 Speaker 2: Okay, to round out this conversation, what can we actually 156 00:08:03,400 --> 00:08:05,920 Speaker 2: do to save the reef? It's pretty difficult listening to 157 00:08:05,960 --> 00:08:08,280 Speaker 2: stuff like this and feeling a bit helpless. Is it 158 00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:09,000 Speaker 2: too late? 159 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:11,720 Speaker 1: I asked this question a lot on the reef and 160 00:08:12,120 --> 00:08:15,320 Speaker 1: two people who work in reef tourism, and there seems 161 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:18,680 Speaker 1: to be two main schools of thought. One is climate change. 162 00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:22,560 Speaker 1: One is undeniably looking at ways we can be kinder 163 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:24,800 Speaker 1: to the planet, whether that be through aligning our money 164 00:08:24,840 --> 00:08:29,200 Speaker 1: to financial institutions that don't fund fossil fuel industries, it 165 00:08:29,280 --> 00:08:31,720 Speaker 1: might be driving electric vehicles, all the things that we're 166 00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:34,120 Speaker 1: going to discuss throughout our entire careers here at the 167 00:08:34,160 --> 00:08:36,680 Speaker 1: daily OS as ways to help the planet. And the 168 00:08:36,720 --> 00:08:40,160 Speaker 1: other angle was this scientific innovation angle, So backing projects 169 00:08:40,160 --> 00:08:42,439 Speaker 1: in the region that are trying to do really interesting 170 00:08:42,520 --> 00:08:45,120 Speaker 1: things with their science. On the world stage, we are 171 00:08:45,240 --> 00:08:49,960 Speaker 1: clearly not in favor. According to UN Secretary General Antonio Gutierrez, 172 00:08:50,160 --> 00:08:53,320 Speaker 1: Australia is one of the quote holdouts in taking meaningful 173 00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:56,800 Speaker 1: action on climate change, that was said last Monday. On 174 00:08:56,840 --> 00:08:59,400 Speaker 1: the other hand, the federal government has pledged one billion 175 00:08:59,440 --> 00:09:01,760 Speaker 1: dollars to the reef. They did that in January for 176 00:09:01,840 --> 00:09:04,880 Speaker 1: new climate adaptation technologies. And that's to do with this 177 00:09:04,920 --> 00:09:07,600 Speaker 1: second school of thought that I was referring to, backing 178 00:09:07,640 --> 00:09:10,280 Speaker 1: projects on the reef that might be using ways to 179 00:09:10,360 --> 00:09:14,560 Speaker 1: replicate coral, to preserve coral, to document coral, all of 180 00:09:14,559 --> 00:09:18,400 Speaker 1: those interesting things done by sensational and determined people in 181 00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:20,920 Speaker 1: North Queensland. You're going to see a lot more from 182 00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:23,240 Speaker 1: our trip to the Barrier Reef and our efforts to 183 00:09:23,280 --> 00:09:27,000 Speaker 1: see the effects of climate change and temperature increases first hand. 184 00:09:27,640 --> 00:09:29,400 Speaker 1: And you can see all of that when it comes 185 00:09:29,440 --> 00:09:31,880 Speaker 1: and when it drops on the daili os, over on Instagram, 186 00:09:31,880 --> 00:09:34,400 Speaker 1: at the dale Os, it's where three hundred and forty 187 00:09:34,480 --> 00:09:37,480 Speaker 1: thousand people are going to get their news today across Australia. 188 00:09:37,559 --> 00:09:40,280 Speaker 1: We are raring to go for another week of the headlines. 189 00:09:40,840 --> 00:09:42,240 Speaker 1: Until then, we'll speak to you tomorrow.