This was published 5 months ago
The photos that show nothing so far has saved the Great Barrier Reef
By Mike Foley
Australia’s climate targets must be bolstered to meet the global action needed to prevent the complete loss of the world’s coral reefs, experts warn, after the fifth mass bleaching event off Queensland’s coast since 2016.
Photographs taken last week show the damage from mass bleaching that has reached the southern tip of the Great Barrier Reef for the first time.
Coral bleaching on the southern Great Barrier Reef last week. Credit: @theundertow.ocean & diversforclimate
“Sheer good luck has spared this section of reef from much of the damage from the past four bleaching events further north,” said Stuart Kininmonth, the head of research at the University of Queensland’s Heron Island Research Station.
“But now this pristine marine ecosystem is suffering up to 100 per cent bleaching across vast swaths of reef up to five metres in depth.”
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek acknowledged climate change was the biggest threat to coral reefs worldwide and pointed to the government’s emissions-reduction targets and $1.2 billion investment in projects to boost the reef’s resilience.
But independent analyst Climate Action Tracker says Labor’s goal of cutting emissions by 43 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 and reaching net zero by 2050 is consistent with global action that would lead to 2 degrees or more of warming.
The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has been warning since 2016 that 99 per cent of the world’s reefs would be lost under global warming of more than 2 degrees.
The Climate Council has calculated that Australia needs to cut emissions by 75 per cent by 2030 and reach net zero by 2035 to play its part in the international action needed to meet the Paris Agreement goal of keeping global warming under 2 degrees and as close to 1.5 degrees as possible.
Mass coral bleaching first hit the Great Barrier Reef in 1998 and then again in 2002. In the past eight years there have been five incidents of mass coral bleaching: in 2016, 2017, 2020, 2022 and this year.
Bleaching occurs when the organisms are under severe stress due to abnormally high water temperatures. Recovery is possible if sea surface temperatures return to normal fast enough.
Up to 100 per cent of some reefs have bleached on the southern Great Barrier Reef. Credit: @theundertow.ocean & diversforclimate
World Wide Fund for Nature said Australia must boost its climate action to help prevent the complete loss of coral reefs.
“The federal government needs to commit to a 2035 target of 90 per cent below 2005 levels. Its current ambition is nowhere near enough to give the reef a fighting chance,” said WWF head of oceans Richard Leck.
The Australian Marine Conservation Society also said the country’s climate target fell short of the global action needed to keep coral reefs alive.
“The reef needs urgent action and the current federal government’s climate target doesn’t stack up,” spokeswoman Dr Lissa Schindler said.
“Scientists’ past predictions were that by 2035, reefs would be bleaching every five years, and the Great Barrier Reef has already eclipsed that.”
Plibersek noted the government had legislated its emissions-reduction targets and committed to reaching a target of being 82 per cent reliant on renewable energy by 2030.
“We’re funding projects that improve the reef’s ability to recover after a bleaching event, like improving the quality of water flowing onto the reef, eradicating feral and invasive species and removing marine debris,” she said.
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