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great barrier reef
'Graveyard of Corals': Bleaching Led to Great Barrier Reef's Worst Die-Off on Record
"We will ultimately get to a tipping point where coral cover can't bounce back," warned one researcher. "We have to mitigate the root causes of the problem and reduce emissions and stabilize temperatures."
Aug 06, 2025
After last year's climate-fueled bleaching in Australia's famed Great Barrier Reef, large swaths of the GBR suffered the worst coral die-off since records began, a government report revealed Wednesday, prompting renewed calls for reducing greenhouse gas emissions as well as reef conservation and restoration.
The GBR "experienced unprecedented levels of heat stress, which caused the most spatially extensive and severe bleaching recorded to date," the Australian Institute of Marine Science's (AIMS) annual report states.
AIMS studied the health of 124 coral reefs between August 2024 and May 2025 and found that northern and southern branches of the approximately 1,400-mile (2,300 km) GBR suffered the "largest annual decline in coral cover" ever recorded since monitoring began nearly 40 years ago.
Data collected last year from aerial surveys showed that 75% of the GBR had been bleached amid record heat driven by the worsening climate emergency. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned in March 2024 that the bleaching would likely be the worst the world had ever seen.
The new report confirmed that "the 2024 event had the largest spatial footprint ever recorded on the GBR, with high to extreme bleaching prevalence observed across all three regions" of the GBR.
According to AIMS:
In 2025, hard coral cover declined substantially across the GBR, although considerable coral cover remains in all three regions. Regional declines ranged between 14% and 30% compared to 2024 levels, with some individual reefs experiencing coral declines of up to 70.8%. These declines are primarily attributed to coral mortality from the 2024 mass coral bleaching event, compounded by the cumulative impacts of two cyclones in December 2023 and January 2024, freshwater inundation, and some crown-of-thorns starfish activity.
In 2025, 48% of surveyed reefs underwent a decline in percentage coral cover, 42% showed no net change, and only 10% had an increase. Reefs with stable or increasing coral cover were predominantly located in the central GBR.
Scientists described the resulting seascape as a "graveyard of corals."
AIMS research lead Mike Emslie told Agence France-Presse that the "number one cause" of GBR coral decline "is climate change."
"There is no doubt about that," Emslie added.
The problem is by no means limited to the GBR. A mass global bleaching event has devastated more than 80% of the world's coral reefs over the past two years, affecting 82 countries and territories.
Prior to the current die-off, the last major GBR bleaching event occurred in 2014-17, when scientists said nearly one-third of its coral died and approximately 15% of all reefs worldwide experienced major coral deaths.
"These impacts we are seeing are serious and substantial and the bleaching events are coming closer and closer together," Emslie said in a separate interview with The Guardian.
"We will ultimately get to a tipping point where coral cover can't bounce back because disturbances come so quickly that there's no time left for recovery," he warned. "We have to mitigate the root causes of the problem and reduce emissions and stabilize temperatures."
AIMS called for greater global efforts to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions fueling planetary heating, "continued good local management," and more interventions "to help corals adapt and recover."
Larissa Waters, leader of the Australian Greens and a federal senator representing Queensland, on Monday urged the governing Labor Party to "follow the science, set 2035 targets at net-zero, stop new coal and gas, or risk losing our reef, its immense biodiversity, and the 60,000 jobs it sustains."
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Fossil Fuels Blamed as 84% of World's Coral Reefs Hit by Worst Bleaching Event Ever Recorded
"The magnitude and extent of the heat stress is shocking," said one marine scientist.
Apr 23, 2025
A year after scientists warned the world was seeing its fourth mass coral bleaching event, rising ocean temperatures fueled by greenhouse gas emissions have now devastated 84% of Earth's coral reefs—with likely knock-on effects for about a third of all marine species and 1 billion people whose lives and livelihoods are directly impacted by the health of the "rainforests of the sea."
Coral Reef Watch at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released its latest data on Wednesday, showing the current bleaching event has become the most widespread on record, impacting reefs from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic and Pacific.
The news comes three months after scientists confirmed 2024 was the hottest year on record. Last year, meteorologists also found that sea surface temperatures in the North Atlantic were about 2°F higher than the 1990-2020 average and nearly 3°F above the average in the 1980s.
Unusually warm ocean waters cause corals to expel algae that give the reefs their bright color and deliver nutrients, supporting the immense biodiversity that is normally found within the reefs. Prolonged bleaching can kill coral reefs.
"The magnitude and extent of the heat stress is shocking," marine scientist Melanie McField, the founder of the Healthy Reefs for Healthy People initiative in the Caribbean, told Reuters. "Some reefs that had thus far escaped major heat stress and we thought to be somewhat resilient, succumbed to partial mortalities in 2024."
Derek Manzello, director of Coral Reef Watch, told The Guardian that some reefs that had been considered safe from the impact of rising ocean temperatures have now been bleached.
"Some reefs that had thus far escaped major heat stress and we thought to be somewhat resilient, succumbed to partial mortalities in 2024."
“The fact that so many reef areas have been impacted," he said, "suggests that ocean warming has reached a level where there is no longer any safe harbor from coral bleaching and its ramifications."
The current coral bleaching event began in January 2023. That same year, scientists were alarmed by an ocean heatwave off the coast of Florida that rapidly bleached the continental United States' only living barrier reef.
That event prompted NOAA to introduce a new coral bleaching alert scale from Level 1—significant bleaching—to Level 5, at which point a reef is approaching mortality.
Another ocean heatwave last year threatened Australia's Great Barrier Reef, eight years after nearly half of the coral in some northern parts of the 1,400-mile reef was killed by a mass bleaching event.
But recent major bleaching events affecting specific reefs have not compared to the current widespread devastation in the world's oceans.
“Reefs have not encountered this before," said Britta Schaffelke, coordinator of the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, told The Guardian. "With the ongoing bleaching it's almost overwhelming the capacity of people to do the monitoring they need to do. The fact that this most recent, global-scale coral bleaching event is still ongoing takes the world's reefs into uncharted waters."
The other three mass bleaching events on record occurred from 2014-17, with 68% of the world's reefs affected; in 2010, when 37% were impacted; and in 1998, when 21% suffered bleaching.
The report from Coral Reef Watch followed the Trump administration's under-the-radar release of climate change data that minimized NOAA's findings about the level of planet-heating carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere. President Donald Trump also issued an executive order demanding sunset provisions for every existing energy regulation and notified companies that they can seek exemptions to clean air regulations.
Joerg Wiedenmann, a marine biologist at the Coral Reef Laboratory at the University of Southampton in England, emphasized that taking action to stop the heating of the world's oceans could protect coral reefs, the marine species they provide habitats to, and the communities they support by protecting coastlines and providing fishing and tourism jobs.
"If we manage to decrease ocean warming," Wiedenmann told The Washington Post, "there is always a chance for corals to recover."
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Highest Ocean Heat in 400 Years Poses 'Existential Threat' to Great Barrier Reef
"In the absence of rapid, coordinated, and ambitious global action to combat climate change, we will likely be witness to the demise of one of Earth's great natural wonders," the authors of a study in Science wrote.
Aug 08, 2024
The Great Barrier Reef recently experienced the highest ocean temperatures in at least four centuries and faces an "existential threat" due to repeated mass coral bleaching episodes, a study published Wednesday in Science found.
The network of coral reefs off of Australia—the world's largest living structure—has faced five of the six hottest three-month periods of average surface temperature ever recorded just since 2016, each of which was accompanied by devastating coral bleaching.
Ocean temperatures around the reef reached a record-breaking extreme from January to March this year, with the three-month mean temperature 1.73°C higher than the pre-1900 average, according to the study, authored by researchers based in Australia.
The study includes climate modeling that attributes the temperatures to fossil fuel-driven carbon emissions, and concludes that urgent climate action is needed.
"This attribution, together with the recent ocean temperature extremes, post-1900 warming trend, and observed mass coral bleaching, shows that the existential threat to the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem from anthropogenic climate change is now realized," the study says.
"In the absence of rapid, coordinated, and ambitious global action to combat climate change, we will likely be witness to the demise of one of Earth's great natural wonders," the authors also wrote.
The Great Barrier Reef is under critical pressure, with warming sea temperatures and mass coral bleaching events threatening to destroy the remarkable ecology, biodiversity, and beauty of the world’s largest coral reef, according to research in @nature. https://t.co/67bXgmfTEn
— Robin Hicks (@RobinHicks_) August 8, 2024
The researchers estimated the surface temperatures for 1618-1899 by using a reconstruction method based on drilling into coral skeletons and analyzing the chemical makeup. For the period from 1900 to 1995, they used both the reconstruction method and measurements by modern instruments, and for the last 30 years they used instrumental data.
They found that temperatures were relatively stable until 1900 but have climbed steadily since, especially since 1960.
The trend has culminated in a series of bleaching events, in which stressed corals expel the microscopic algae in their tissues and become transparent or white. Without the helpful algae, which live inside them symbiotically, corals are at risk of disease and death.
In interviews with journalists, the study authors spoke about the severity of the threat to the Great Barrier Reef and the urgent need for climate action.
"The heat extremes are occurring too often for those corals to effectively adapt and evolve," Ben Henley, a paleoclimatologist at the University of Melbourne and lead author of the study, told The New York Times. "If we don't divert from our current course, our generation will likely witness the demise of one of Earth's great natural wonders, the Great Barrier Reef."
Henley said he snorkeled with his father on the Great Barrier Reef as a child.
"You can't even take in the diversity," he said. "It's a kaleidoscope of color, it's absolutely spectacular."
He said he worries that his own 2-year-old daughter may not be able to enjoy the same experience.
"In her childhood years the reef is likely to see immense destruction," he said.
He called for strong global action so that his daughter and members of her generation could "marvel at the reef in their lifetimes."
Helen McGregor, a scientist at the University of Wollongong and study co-author, told the BBC the new research "could send a huge signal to the world about how grave the problem is."
"We know what we need to do," she added. "We have international agreements in place [to limit global temperature rise]."
Scientists not involved in the study agreed about the importance of the research, not just for the Great Barrier Reef but for coral reefs more generally.
"It's a stunningly important summary of the history of the world's largest reef system," Stephen Palumbi, a marine biologist at Stanford University, told the Times. "The paper lays out the danger that corals all around the world face from this heat."
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False Climate Solution of Geoengineering Could Cause Heatwaves Thousands of Miles Away
"We need more regional geoengineering modeling studies like this work to characterize these unintended side effects before they have a chance to play out in the real world," said the study's lead author.
Jun 21, 2024
A study published Friday found that a cloud engineering technique designed to cool parts of the western United States could inadvertently stoke heatwaves from North America to Europe, underscoring why many scientists reject geoengineering as a false climate solution.
The study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, concludes that marine cloud brightening (MCB)—"a geoengineering proposal to cool atmospheric temperatures and reduce climate change impacts"—in the "remote mid-latitudes or proximate subtropics" of the northern Pacific Ocean—would decrease "the relative risk of dangerous summer heat exposure by 55% and 16%, respectively."
However, the researchers found that regions including Africa's Sahel, central North America, Europe, and northeastern Asia would "experience exacerbated heat stress and hotter summers with MCB than would otherwise occur under global warming."
Additionally, the study shows that MCB would be less effective over time and could "even increase heat stress in the western United States" and beyond by mid-century.
University of California San Diego researcher Jessica Wan, who led the study, told The Guardian that MCB "can be very effective for the U.S. West Coast if done now, but it may be ineffective there in the future and could cause heatwaves in Europe."
The study's authors said the paper's findings are especially troubling given the dearth of international MCB regulation.
"There is really no solar geoengineering governance right now. That is scary," said Wan. "Science and policy need to be developed together. We don't want to be in a situation where one region is forced to do geoengineering to combat what another part of the world has done to respond to droughts and heatwaves."
As New Scientist reported:
The MCB experiments that have taken place so far in Australia and California haven't been of a sufficiently large scale to cause detectable climate effects, but they suggest that regional geoengineering could be closer to reality than previously thought, says Wan. "We need more regional geoengineering modeling studies like this work to characterize these unintended side effects before they have a chance to play out in the real world."
In Australia, researchers are experimenting with geoengineering techniques in an effort to cool the Great Barrier Reef and decelerate its bleaching. In California, scientists from the University of Washington sprayed sea salt flecks over a decommissioned aircraft carrier in the San Francisco Bay in hushed testing that was halted by the city of Alameda last month over safety concerns.
"We strongly welcome Alameda City Council's unanimous decision to say no to the first open-air marine cloud brightening experiment in the U.S.," Mary Church of the Center for International Environmental Law said after the halt. "Key concerns raised by council members focused on lack of sufficient information, notice, and transparency. The rejection rightfully reflects the gravity of what's at stake for both local and global communities."
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'Worst I Have Seen': 75% of Great Barrier Reef Suffers Coral Bleaching
"We are really running out of time. We need to reduce our emissions immediately," one expert warned. "We cannot expect to save the Great Barrier Reef and be opening new fossil fuel developments."
Apr 11, 2024
Marine conservationists warned Thursday that Australia's Great Barrier Reef may be suffering its worst-ever coral bleaching event amid record ocean heat fueled by the worsening climate emergency.
The Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) said that bleached corals have been found at depths of up to nearly 60 feet, and "some corals are starting to die as they face record marine heatwaves."
"Corals bleach when they are stressed by warmer waters for an extended period of time—during marine heatwaves, which are driven by climate change," AMCS explained. "They expel the algae that inhabit them, which is their main energy source and they starve, sometimes to death."
Data collected from aerial surveys shows that 75% of the Great Barrier Reef has bleached during the current event, which the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned last month is likely to be "the worst bleaching event" ever observed in the world.
"This new footage shows extensive coral bleaching in southern reefs, but there are images from the central and northern parts that show bleaching is extensive and severe in some of those areas too," AMCS Great Barrier Reef campaign manager Lissa Schindler said in a statement.
"The Great Barrier Reef is experiencing an unprecedented fifth mass coral bleaching in eight years," Schindler added. "This is worse than the past two mass bleaching events—in 2020 and 2022—and we may discover as bad as the worst bleaching on record in 2016."
According to AMCS:
Some regions in the southern reef have experienced unprecedented marine heatwaves, with elevated water temperatures for a record 14.57 degree heating weeks (DHW)—a measure of excessive heat over time—breaking the previous record of 11.8 DWH set in April 2020, according to data from the U.S. government's world-leading ocean agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
"I feel devastated. This bleaching event is the worst I have seen. It's a severe bleaching event," said Selina Ward, a coral reef expert and the former academic director of the University of Queensland's Heron Island Research Station.
Ward, who reported extensive bleaching at all 16 sites she just visited along the southern Great Barrier Reef, added: "I've been working on the reef since 1992 but this I'm really struggling with. The diversity of species involved has been hard to deal with. Look at bleached areas, there are many different species that are bleached—many of which are pretty resistant to bleaching."
It's not just Australia or even the Southern Hemisphere. Following the planet's hottest summer on record last year, the Caribbean suffered its worst recorded bleaching event.
The last global bleaching occurred in 2014-17, when scientists say approximately 15% of all reefs experienced major coral deaths. Nearly a third of the Great Barrier Reef's coral perished during that event—a die-off that could be eclipsed this time.
"This bleaching event again brings us to the question, what are we doing to stop the reef from being lost?" Ward asked. "I can't help but wonder what it is going to take for the right decisions to be made."
"We are really running out of time. We need to reduce our emissions immediately," she added. "We cannot expect to save the Great Barrier Reef and be opening new fossil fuel developments. It's time to act and there are no more excuses."
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NOAA Warns World's Coral on Verge of 'Worst Bleaching Event in History of the Planet'
"It's looking like the entirety of the Southern Hemisphere is probably going to bleach this year," one scientist said.
Mar 05, 2024
Driven by sustained climate-fueled oceanic heating, the planet is on the brink of another mass coral bleaching event that marine biologists warn could kill large swaths of tropical reefs including significant areas of Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
Scientists are sounding the alarm following months of record ocean temperatures exacerbated by the planetary emergency and the El Niño climate pattern in the Pacific Ocean.
"It's looking like the entirety of the Southern Hemisphere is probably going to bleach this year," Derek Manzello of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Coral Reef Watch told Reuters. "We are literally sitting on the cusp of the worst bleaching event in the history of the planet."
As NOAA explains:
When water is too warm, corals will expel the algae (zooxanthellae) living in their tissues causing the coral to turn completely white. This is called coral bleaching. When a coral bleaches, it is not dead. Corals can survive a bleaching event, but they are under more stress and are subject to mortality.
In 2005, the U.S. lost half of its coral reefs in the Caribbean in one year due to a massive bleaching event. The warm waters centered around the northern Antilles near the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico expanded southward. Comparison of satellite data from the previous 20 years confirmed that thermal stress from the 2005 event was greater than the previous 20 years combined.
Following the planet's hottest summer on record last year, the Caribbean suffered its worst recorded bleaching event. The last worldwide bleaching occurred in 2014-17, when scientists say approximately 15% of all reefs experienced major coral deaths. Nearly a third of the Great Barrier Reef's coral perished during the bleaching.
In the Southern Hemisphere, where summer is ending and ocean temperatures are at or near their annual peaks, there is "basically bleaching all over the place," according to Manzello.
Matthew England, a professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia who studies ocean currents, recently told The New York Times that "the sea ice around the Antarctic is just not growing" and "the temperature's just going off the charts."
"It's like an omen of the future," he added.
It's a similar story in the North Atlantic, which "has been record-breakingly warm for almost a year now," University of Miami hurricane expert Brian McNoldy told the Times. "It's just astonishing. Like, it doesn't seem real."
A 2018 report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that global heating of 1.5°C is likely to result in the loss of 70-90% the planet's coral reefs over the coming decades.
Current emissions-based forecasts have Earth on track for at least 1.5°C of warming, which researchers say is likely to trigger five climate tipping points: melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, mass die-off of warm-water coral reefs, thawing of Arctic permafrost, and collapse of the North Atlantic Subpolar Gyre circulation.
The European Environment Agency's long-term forecasts for 2071-2100 predict worldwide oceanic heating of 0.5°C-3.8°C, depending on future greenhouse gas emission scenarios.
Scientists say the best way to avert worst-case outcomes for both coral reefs and the climate is to swiftly transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Reducing land-based pollution and overfishing are also critical to reef preservation.
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Great Barrier Reef Belongs on World Heritage 'In Danger' List: UNESCO
"The path to saving the Great Barrier Reef is narrow, but it exists," said one observer. "Strong and rapid action can produce results."
Nov 28, 2022
Because Australia's efforts to protect the Great Barrier Reef from damages wrought by the fossil fuel-driven climate crisis, pollution, and overfishing are falling short, the planet's largest coral reef system should be placed on a list of World Heritage sites considered "in danger," a pair of experts said Monday.
"Despite the unparalleled science and management efforts" made by Australia in recent years, the Great Barrier Reef is "significantly impacted by climate change factors," Eleanor Carter of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Hans Thulstrup of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) wrote in a report.
The much-anticipated report, based on a 10-day mission to the reef in March, warned that the climate emergency presents a "serious challenge" to the health of the biodiverse ecosystem, which was deemed a global wonder in 1981.
"The resilience of the property to recover from climate change impacts is substantially compromised, in particular--but not exclusively--due to degraded water quality," said the report. Soaring greenhouse gas emissions are causing oceans to heat up at an unprecedented rate, with disastrous consequences for marine life, and must be curbed immediately.
In addition, Carter and Thulstrup warned that not enough is being done to prevent agricultural runoff from polluting the reef's waters. The IUCN and UNESCO representatives advocated for greater investment to improve water quality and recommended adding the reef to the "World Heritage in danger" list.
According to The Guardian, "The report's recommendation the reef be placed on a list of World Heritage sites 'in danger' will be taken into account alongside responses from the Queensland and federal governments before UNESCO makes a formal recommendation to the World Heritage Committee before its next meeting."
As Agence France-Presse reported:
To be included on UNESCO's World Heritage list, a site must have "outstanding universal value." A spot on the list usually means boosted tourism, and improved access to funds and to scientific expertise.
Those benefits are threatened when a site is declared "in danger"--which is currently the case of about 50 sites worldwide. Only three sites have ever been dropped from the heritage list completely.
A UNESCO spokesperson told AFP that "a constructive dialogue is ongoing with the current government," which is led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of the Australian Labor Party.
Another unnamed source familiar with the matter described the report as "a roadmap submitted to the Australian government which should say what it intends to do with it and produce results."
"The path to saving the Great Barrier Reef is narrow, but it exists," the source added. "Strong and rapid action can produce results."
The U.N.-backed reef mission was requested by Australia's ex-environment minister Sussan Ley after former Prime Minister Scott Morrison's right-wing government and its pro-fossil fuel allies, including Saudi Arabia, successfully lobbied against categorizing the Great Barrier Reef as endangered in the summer of 2021.
IUCN's Carter and UNESCO's Thulstrup traveled to Queensland to meet with government officials, scientists, and other stakeholders in March, two months before Morrison was defeated by Albanese. Following a six-month delay stemming from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, their final report, published Monday in Paris, outlined 10 steps that they said should be pursued "with utmost urgency."
Australia's Reef 2050 plan must be strengthened before the end of this year to include "clear government commitments to reduce greenhouse emissions consistent with the efforts required to limit the global average temperature increase to 1.5degC above pre-industrial levels," the report noted.
According to The Guardian: "Since the mission, the Albanese government has legislated an improved national target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 43% from 2005 levels by 2030 and to reach net-zero by 2050. Independent analysis has found Australia's new target is consistent with keeping warming to 2degC--above the 1.5degC goal seen as critical for the reef's long-term health."
Surging ocean temperatures--fueled by the burning of coal, oil, and gas--have caused widespread bleaching of corals in 1998, 2002, 2016, 2017, 2020, and 2022.
"The U.N.-backed mission coincided with the first mass bleaching on the reef to take place during a La Nina year which, in the past, has kept ocean temperatures cool enough to protect corals," The Guardian reported. "Scientists fear that without cooler conditions in the coming weeks, the reef could face bleaching again this summer."
Although Albanese's government announced a $1.2 billion package last month to fund water quality improvements and research to try to enhance the resilience of corals and reefs, the report said that progress remains too slow.
Among other things, Carter and Thulstrup asked the Queensland state government "to accelerate the rollout of its sustainable fisheries strategy and to phase out the use of gillnets in the marine park," The Guardian noted.
As the newspaper explained:
The mission report was originally scheduled for release by May 2022 in time for a meeting of the world heritage committee in Russia in July, where the reef was due to be debated again. But the meeting--to be chaired by Russia--was postponed following the invasion of Ukraine.
UNESCO will now prepare a new report on the state of the reef that will consider the findings of the mission and any responses from the state and federal governments. That report will make formal recommendations directly to the World Heritage Committee ahead of the rescheduled meeting likely to take place in the first half of next year.
Last week, Russia resigned as chair of the 21-member committee, with Saudi Arabia reportedly considering taking on the role of chair.
Should Australia implement all of the recommendations, it could "drastically improve" the country's ability to "ensure and advance" conservation of the Great Barrier Reef and to preserve the ecosystem's "outstanding universal value" for future generations, said Monday's report.
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'Disastrous News': Widespread Bleaching of Great Barrier Reef Underway
"This is a sure sign that climate change caused by burning coal, oil, and gas is threatening the very existence of our reef," said one campaigner.
Mar 18, 2022
An assessment of the Great Barrier Reef's health released Friday reveals widespread bleaching of the world's largest coral organism, sparking fresh demands for the Australian government to ditch fossil fuels and finally commit to protecting both the UNESCO site and planetary health.
"Corals on the Great Barrier Reef are not supposed to bleach in cooler La Nina summers. 2022 is a first, thanks to anthropogenic heating."
"While not yet officially declared a mass bleaching event, this is still disastrous news for our reef, the marine life, and communities that rely on its health," said Dr. Lissa Schindler, Great Barrier Reef campaign manager with the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS).
The March 18 update from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority suggests a fourth major bleaching event since 2016 is underway and points to warmer than average sea surface temperatures--0.5-2degC above average throughout the park, with some areas ranging 2-4degC above average.
"Bleaching has been detected across the marine park--it is widespread but variable, across multiple regions, ranging in impact from minor to severe," the assessment states.
"Most observations of bleaching have been of paling or fluorescing," the update continues, "but several locations have whole colonies bleached white"--a status "consistent with the patterns of heat stress experienced on the reef this summer."
Of particular note, say reef defenders, is that the widespread bleaching comes during a La Nina year, which can help cool waters.
"This is a sure sign that climate change caused by burning coal, oil, and gas is threatening the very existence of our reef," declared Greenpeace Australia Pacific climate impacts campaigner Martin Zavan.
According to bleaching expert Prof. Terry Hughes, "Corals on the Great Barrier Reef are not supposed to bleach in cooler La Nina summers. 2022 is a first, thanks to anthropogenic heating."
Hughes also pointed to the marine park authority's aerial surveys that "reveal (so far) a footprint of mass bleaching similar to 2017, when the central 500km region was hardest hit."
"How many more maps will it take to trigger real reductions in greenhouse gas emissions?" he asked.
The right-wing government of Prime Minister Scott Morrison has faced sustained criticism from climate campaigners for doubling down on fossil fuel projects amid the planetary emergency. The prime minister also drew sharp criticism last year after launching a successful lobbying effort to keep the reef off a list of World Heritage Sites considered "in danger." Reporting earlier this month that the Australian government pushed for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to soften its assessment of the reef being "in crisis" sparked additional criticism.
In a lengthy Twitter thread Friday, Greenpeace Australia Pacific CEO David Ritter debunked Morrison's claims of having protected the reef and pointed to the government's multiple climate failures.
"Preserving the reef would require clear and meaningful climate action, like a meaningful net-zero plan and a moratorium on new coal, oil, and gas projects," said Ritter. "Instead, Australia was recently ranked last out of 170 nations for climate action."
Ritter also noted that last year his group "delivered legal notice directly to Scott Morrison [and] advised he is in breach of his World Heritage Treaty obligations to protect the reef."
"So, it's time to cut the crap," he added. "We know the reef is in danger, but we also know how to protect it."
Addressing the prime minister, Ritter said, "Do your job to safeguard Australians and our magnificent natural heritage, by speeding up our transition to clean energy and urgently phasing out fossil fuels."
The update was released just days before UNESCO's reef monitoring mission begins.
AMCS's Schindler said that the mission delegates must "witness the severity and widespread nature of this devastating event and while out there the Morrison government should explain to the mission why they continue to approve and cut red tape for fossil fuel projects."
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'A Day of Shame': Australia Lobbying Thwarts Push to List Great Barrier Reef as Endangered
Greenpeace Australia called Friday's World Heritage Committee vote "a victory for one of the most cynical lobbying efforts in recent history."
Jul 23, 2021
An intense lobbying campaign by the pro-fossil fuel Australian government succeeded Friday in keeping the Great Barrier Reef off a list of World Heritage Sites considered "in danger," despite experts' warnings that the biodiverse ecosystem is increasingly imperiled by the global climate emergency.
"The Great Barrier Reef is in danger, and trying to hide the facts won't change a thing."
--Lesley Hughes, Climate Council
The 21-nation World Heritage Committee--organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)--voted down a push to categorize the Great Barrier Reef as endangered, an effort that the right-wing Australian government fervently opposed with the backing of Saudi Arabia and other oil-friendly countries.
Instead of designating the Reef as "in danger," the World Heritage Committee on Friday instructed the government of Australia to produce a progress report on the structure's condition by February 2022.
David Ritter, CEO of Greenpeace Australia, said in a statement that Friday's vote "is a victory for one of the most cynical lobbying efforts in recent history."
"Under the UNESCO treaty, the Australian government promised the world it would do its utmost to protect the Reef--instead it has done its utmost to hide the truth," said Ritter. "This is not an achievement--it is a day of shame for the Australian government."
Lesley Hughes, a spokesperson for Climate Council, an Australia-based advocacy organization, slammed the government lobbying blitz and said lawmakers "must stop censoring science."
"The science is clear: climate change is accelerating and is the single, greatest threat to the Great Barrier Reef. In the past five years it has been repeatedly and severely damaged by three marine heatwaves," said Hughes, a professor of biology at Macquarie University in Sydney. "Until we see credible climate action, and the phasing out of fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas, this situation will worsen, not improve. The Great Barrier Reef is in danger, and trying to hide the facts won't change a thing."
Home to hundreds of types of coral and more than 1,000 species of fish, the Great Barrier Reef has been badly damaged in recent years by mass coral bleaching fueled by warming ocean temperatures--which is why scientists have been pushing Australia and the international community to formally recognize the system as endangered.
"Everyone knows the climate crisis is threatening the Reef. Delay is denial, and a sop to fossil fuels."
--Sarah Hanson-Young, Australian Greens
The World Heritage Committee's vote Friday came a month after UNESCO issued a report (pdf) warning that the Great Barrier Reef's condition has "further deteriorated from poor to very poor" due to human-caused climate change. The U.N. body advised that the reef be listed among the world's "in danger" sites--a call endorsed by scientists around the world.
UNESCO's recommendation sparked furious backlash from the Australian government, which launched an aggressive lobbying push to prevent the listing.
As The Guardian reported, "More than a dozen ambassadors flew from Canberra to Cairns, Queensland, for a snorkeling trip on the reef," and "Australia's environment minister, Sussan Ley, was dispatched to Europe on an RAAF diplomatic jet to visit Budapest, Madrid, Sarajevo, Paris, Oman, and the Maldives."
"Australia--a major producer and exporter of coal and gas--initially won support from oil-rich Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, both members of the committee, to delay any decision on the danger listing until at least 2023," the outlet noted. "But after an interjection from Norway, the committee decided instead the reef's health would be considered again at next year's meeting."
Sarah Hanson-Young, an Australian senator with the Greens Party, warned following Friday's vote that "the decision to delay the 'in danger' listing for the Great Barrier Reef is ridiculous and will cost Australia in the long run."
"Everyone knows the climate crisis is threatening the Reef," she added. "Delay is denial, and a sop to fossil fuels."
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Australia Aided by 'Fossil Fuel Pariah States' in Bid to Keep Great Barrier Reef Off 'In Danger' List
"Imagine if the federal government displayed the same zeal and urgency in trying to fix the root cause of the reef's poor health: climate change, driven by the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas."
Jul 14, 2021
Just ahead of a United Nations World Heritage Committee meeting weighing updated classifications for U.N. Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization sites, new reporting on Wednesday reveals how Australia is working to thwart the Great Barrier Reef being designated as "in danger."
According to The Guardian, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are co-sponsoring amendments that reject UNESCO's finding, released last month, that the reef is in danger and would prevent such a designation until 2023 or later.
"Imagine teaming up with fossil fuel pariah states to delay saving Australia's greatest natural wonder," quipped Jo Robb, a Green Party councillor for South Oxfordshire in England. Prime Minister "Scott Morrison's Australia is a disgrace."
In its draft recommendation in June, UNESCO said (pdf) the reef should be inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger as it's facing "ascertained danger," language the body uses to refer to "specific and proven imminent threats." The draft pointed to ongoing deterioration from threats including the climate emergency and suffering from significant coral bleaching events in 2016, 2017, and 2020.
That recommendation drew immediate criticism from Morrison's government, which continues to prop up the fossil industry. Climate campaigners, however, said the recommendation was totally unsurprising. "The UNESCO warning could not be any clearer," Greenpeace Australia Pacific spokesperson Martin Zavan said last month. "The Great Barrier Reef is in danger because of the Morrison government's failure to act on climate change."
As The Guardian noted, Morrison's government is engaging in a multi-pronged effort to keep the reef off the "in danger" list, or at least delay the decision. Apart from the proposed amendments, Australia's government is hosting a snorkeling trip in the reef for ambassadors from several countries including nine that have voting rights at the two-week World Heritage Committee meeting starting July 16. The committee is set to consider Australia's designation on July 23.
Further efforts come from Australian Environment Minister Sussan Ley--who last month accused UNESCO of carrying out an "appalling" process in making its "in danger" assessment of the reef. She is now in Europe lobbying ambassadors to vote against the designation.
"The government is sparing no effort, or expense, trying to develop conceal the dire situation faced by the Great Barrier Reef," wrote Lesley Hughes, a Climate Council spokesperson and distinguished professor of biology at Macquarie University, in an op-ed Wednesday at The Age. "Imagine if the federal government displayed the same zeal and urgency in trying to fix the root cause of the reef's poor health: climate change, driven by the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil, andarent' gas."
The Guardian reported Wednesday:
In the amendments, the committee is being asked to reject UNESCO's official finding the reef was facing "ascertained danger"--a trigger for entry onto the "in danger" list.
A UNESCO mission would be held to "develop a set of corrective measures" before Australia sends a report to the U.N. organization by December 2022, rather than the original February 2022 date.
Instead of asking the committee to decide next week on the "in danger" inscription, the amendments state that should not be considered until 2023 at the earliest.
The revelations come just a days after a coalition of leading Australian environmental groups sent a joint letter to World Heritage Committee members that the "science is clear: the Great Barrier Reef is in danger from rising sea temperatures and ocean acidification, driven by increasing greenhouse gas emissions."
"The World Heritage Committee placing the Great Barrier Reef on the List of World Heritage in Danger must prompt decisive action from the Australian government," the groups said, "united with the global community, to protect the Outstanding Universal Value of one of the most beautiful and biodiverse places on Earth. "
In her op-ed, Hughes said that the committee is facing "a high-stakes decision" and warned that "if the factors endangering the reef aren't addressed, it could eventually be removed from the World Heritage list all together, which would be both humiliating and economically devastating for Australia."
"Every country needs to play a role in the global effort to rapidly bring down greenhouse gas emissions and address climate change, so as to ensure a safe future for people, flora, and fauna, and precious places like the Great Barrier Reef," she added. "The world is noticing that Australia is not."
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