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Australia seeks rescue ideas for reef
Context
Australia is calling on the world’s top scientific minds to help save the Great Barrier Reef, offering hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund research into protecting the world’s largest living structure.
Factors damaging Coral Reef
- Coral bleaching
- Farming runoff
- Development
- Predatory crown-of-thorns starfish
Fund announced
Australian government announced a Aus$2 million ($1.6 million) funding pot available to people with bright ideas on how to save the reef
- Up to Aus$250,000 is available for an initial feasibility stage, where researchers can test the technical and commercial viability of their proposals for up to six months
- A further Aus$1 million will then be made available to the best solutions at the proof of concept stage, where applicants develop and test their prototypes for up to 12 months.
- Those that are successful will retain intellectual property rights and will be able to try to commercialise their innovation.
Suggested solutions
- Reducing the exposure of corals to physical stressors
- Boosting coral regeneration rates by cultivating reef-building coral larvae that attract other important marine species
Technocracy
- A technocracy is a form of government where decision-makers are chosen for a governing office based on their technical expertise and background.
- Technocracy became a popular movement in the United States during the Great Depression when it was believed that technical professionals, like engineers and scientists, would have a better understanding than politicians regarding the economy’s inherent complexity.
- There is some criticism that is levelled at technocratic governments. One complaint is that following such a structure is undemocratic, as it favors and rewards those with technical expertise over the choice and will of the populous
- The focus on science and technical principles in governance might also be seen as separate and disassociated from the humanity and nature of society
