UNESCO inspected the reef in March during a mass bleaching event and is expected to release updated findings by September afterlast year releasing a draft report proposing its status be listed as “in danger”,which could be the first step to removing the site from World Heritage lists.
The Australian Institute of Marine Science has listed the outlook for the reef’s health as “very poor” and the agency’s chief executive Paul Hardisty said on Thursday the increased frequency of mass coral bleaching events was “uncharted territory” for the reef following the fourth mass bleaching in seven years.
“In our 36 years of monitoring the condition of the Great Barrier Reef we have not seen bleaching events so close together,” Hardisty said.
For the first time in a La Nina cycle,which usually prevents heatwaves,the southern third of the reef was this year blighted by mass coral bleaching.
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The Albanese government announced on Wednesday it had gained the support needed from the Greens to legislate its target to cut emissions 43 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030. But this new target still falls short of what is needed to avoid the worst potential damage to the reef.
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that even if global warming is held to 1.5 degrees,up to 90 per cent of the world’s coral reefs will be severely degraded.