Australia’s Great Barrier Reef suffers widespread coral bleaching

• Reef is suffering widespread and severe coral bleaching due to high ocean temperatures two years after a mass bleaching event that damaged two-thirds of its coral
• United Nations delegation is due to assess if reef’s World Heritage listing should be downgraded due to the ravages of climate change

Aerial photos of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia which is suffering from coral bleaching. Photo: Kyodo News via AP

Australia's Great Barrier Reef is suffering widespread and severe coral bleaching
due to high ocean temperatures two years after a mass bleaching event, a
government agency said on Friday.

The report by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Authority, which manages the
world’s largest coral reef ecosystem, comes three days before a United Nations 
delegation is due to assess whether the reef’s World Heritage listing should be
downgraded due to the ravages of climate change.

“Weather patterns over the next few weeks will be critical in determining
the overall extent and severity of coral bleaching across the Marine Park,”
the authority said.

Aerial photos of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia which is suffering from coral bleaching. Photo: Kyodo News via AP

“Bleaching has been detected across the Marine Park – it is widespread but variable,
 across multiple regions, ranging in impact from minor to severe,” the authority added.

The reef has suffered significantly from coral bleaching caused by unusually warm
ocean temperatures in 2016, 2017 and 2020. The previous bleaching damaged
two-thirds of the coral.

The environmental group Greenpeace said the severe and widespread coral bleaching
suffered during à La Niña weather pattern that is associated with cooler Pacific
Ocean temperatures was evidence of the Australian government’s failure to protect
the coral from the impacts of climate change.

“This is a sure sign that climate change caused by burning coal, oil and gas is
threatening the very existence of our reef,” Greenpeace Australia Pacific Climate
Impacts Campaigner Martin Zavan said in a statement.

In July last year, Australia garnered enough international support to defer an
attempt by Unesco, the United Nations’ cultural organisation, to downgrade the
reef’s World Heritage status to “in danger” because of damage caused by
climate change.

But the question will be back on the World Heritage Committee’s agenda at
its next annual meeting in June.

This article was originally published on South China Morning Post, 19 March 2022. Its inclusion on this website is solely for education purposes. 

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