The worst has happened to the Great Barrier Reef - again - and my heart is breaking

The worst has happened yet again – the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has confirmed that the reef has undergone another mass bleaching event. The fourth such event in six years, with the more severe impacts being seen in the far north and central sections.

Shocking though the news of this latest disaster, we shouldn’t be surprised. Last year was the warmest year on record for the world’s oceans. In fact, the heat absorbed by the oceans last year was equivalent to the energy of seven Hiroshima atomic bombs detonating every single second.

Bleaching events are now frequent on the Great Barrier ReefCredit: Eddie Jim

Before 1998, the sort of bleaching event that we are now seeing frequently on the Great Barrier Reef was simply unheard of. The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), released just over three weeks ago, noted that under a continuing high rate of greenhouse gas emissions, the conditions that have caused the bleaching could occur every year by midway through the 2040s. What possible chance of recovery could the reef have then?

This latest announcement comes ahead of a World Heritage Committee meeting in June to consider listing the reef as “in danger”– a damning indictment that the Federal Government wants to avoid at all costs.

The government’s latest reef cash splash has been described as yet another ‘Band-Aid’ solution, window-dressing to avoid dealing with the number one problem facing coral reefs globally: climate change.

We know what is driving the destruction of the Great Barrier Reef, the extreme rainfall and flooding, and the worsening bushfires that are scaring even the most seasoned firefighters - the continued burning of coal, oil and gas.

Queensland and the rest of Australia should be cashing in on the clean industry opportunities at our fingertips and ensuring we take our place as a global renewables superpower. We know that transitioning into a clean economy will not only help protect the Reef but also the industries, communities, and livelihoods it supports.

Reaching net zero by 2050 will be too late to save the reef. It is the actions we take now, next year, and through the 2020s that will make the difference. Globally, we must at least halve emissions by the end of this decade to keep warming below a catastrophic level. But Australians keep digging up fossil fuels, burning it at home, and shipping off the rest to pollute elsewhere. We are an enormous part of the problem, complicit architects of the demise of the world’s most biodiverse marine ecosystem.

As a scientist and former IPCC author, I can calculate carbon budgets, read the graphs, study the models, and try to dispassionately argue for action. But all the while, as a citizen, a lover of nature, and a parent, my heart is breaking.

Professor Lesley Hughes is a climate councillor and distinguished professor of biology at Macquarie University.

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