Window to save Australia's Great Barrier Reef is closing fast, report warns
Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is on the brink of irreversible damage due to countries’ persistent failure to address the root causes of climate change, a damning new report by the country's leading reef management agency has warned.
Published every five years, this latest analysis paints a grim picture of the world’s largest coral reef system, which is struggling to recover from its fifth mass bleaching event in eight years.
Despite a slight improvement in the condition of some fast-growing coral species, the reef’s overall prospects remain "very poor", the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) said in its 600-page report.
"While recent recovery in some ecosystem values demonstrates that the reef is still resilient, its capacity to tolerate and recover is jeopardised by a rapidly changing climate," it said, emphasising that any recovery is fragile at best.
The assessment lays bare the worsening condition of the reef, driven by rising ocean temperatures, severe tropical cyclones and the increasing frequency of mass coral bleaching events.
Rising threats
Bleaching occurs when heat-stressed corals expel the symbiotic algae that lives within them, leading to a ghostly white appearance and, in many cases, death.
Marine scientists in June told RFI of their deep concern for the survival of corals of the Unesco heritage-listed site, given that species typically resistant to bleaching are now also struggling.
Read more on RFI English
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