TRANSCRIPT
It attracts millions of visitors to Australian shores every year, generates billions of dollars for the economy, and is home to nearly 9,000 species of - often spectacular and unique - marine life
At more than 2,300 kilometres long, the Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system and is so big it can be seen from space.
But this remarkable natural wonder is under pressure.
An annual survey of the Great Barrier Reef by the Australian Institute of Marine Science - or AIMS - has found the northern and southern sections of the reef suffered the largest annual decline in coral cover since reporting began 39 years ago.
Mike Emslie, who leads the Long-Term Monitoring Program at AIMS, explains the findings.
"So, the northern section underwent loss of about a quarter of the live coral cover. And the Southern Great Barrier Reef was almost a third. There were still losses in the central Great Barrier Reef, but it was somewhat less than the other two regions at only 14 per cent. So, these are substantial impacts, and evidence that the increasing frequency of coral bleaching is really starting to have detrimental effects on the Great Barrier Reef."
The loss was part of a global mass bleaching event through 2023 and 2024 - the latter as planet Earth experienced its hottest year on record.
Mike Emslie says there is no doubt global warming is behind the changes.
"Climate change is the number one cause of these mass coral bleaching events. There is a direct link between the increases of global greenhouse emissions, rising temperatures, sea surface temperatures that lead to these heat stress events and mass coral bleaching."
But he explains, the picture is complex.
Since the last bleaching event in 2017, coral cover on the Great Barrier Reef has been INCREASING - meaning last year's coral deaths left roughly THE SAME area of living coral as the long-term average.
"Because we came off such a high base this has somewhat cushioned the impact of the 2024 bleaching and coral cover has declined to about near the long-term average. However, this isn't to underscore the seriousness of the impacts. While there's still a lot of coral cover out there, these are record declines that we have seen in any one year of monitoring."
These fluctuations in coral cover, according to AIMS coral reef ecologist Daniela Ceccarelli can have disastrous impacts on biodiversity.
“Biodiversity loss does seem inevitable, and that's showcased by this dominance of fast-growing corals. If you can imagine that after a bushfire, what grows back first and really quickly covers the earth are grasses and bushes, but then you know that we're still missing the trees until there's more time between the next bushfire. And on coral reefs, it's exactly the same, the fast-growing corals start the recovery, but we need more time for there to be the full biodiversity of corals, that includes the slower-growing, more robust corals as well. And we do need that biodiversity to keep reefs healthy. "
The report comes as the federal government considers its climate target for slashing carbon emissions by 2035 under the Paris Agreement, with its next target due next month.
New polling released today by the Climate Council and Climate Action Network today shows most Australians want government action on climate change.
The YouGov survey of just over 1,500 voters in July showed 77 per cent of respondents thought the government should act to reduce the risk from extreme weather events such as bushfires, caused by climate change.
Among Australia's largest voting base, 68 per cent of Gen Z respondents agreed the government should set a stronger 2035 climate target.
Data for other age groups was not provided despite a request from SBS.
Climate Council Chief Executive Amanda McKenzie says there is clear voter support for a strong climate target.
"We know that Australia's largest voting bloc, millennials and Gen Z are concerned about climate change and that again showed up in this polling. Setting a strong 2035 climate target will help protect Australians from climate harm while driving new jobs and economic opportunities in industries like clean energy and green metals."
According to the Queensland government, the Great Barrier Reef generates $6.4 billion dollars a year for the economy and supports 64,000 jobs, mostly in tourism.
Gareth Phillips is Chief Executive of Association of Marine Park Operators.
He says tourism operators conducted more than 15,000 surveys monitoring the reef over the period of the latest AIMS report, and were somewhat worried by the report’s findings.
"The reef operators have been saying - and a lot of this is driven by their efforts and their site stewardship, collaborating with researchers, managers - there are a lot of locations that are actually looking better than they ever have but at the same time, they're really concerned that people are going to lose hope. Because of the language coming out, and the data shows that the reef is fluctuating a lot. But what is missing is the hope that it does actually have time, and we've got time to act now."
Also losing hope, UNESCO's World Heritage committee which last month warned it was considering listing the Great Barrier Reef as in danger when it meets next year.... noting the outlook for the natural wonder was very poor.
It's requested the government submit an updated report on the full impacts of last year's mass coral bleaching event.
Those impacts now more clear - and more concerning - due to the findings of the latest reef survey.
