SYDNEY: Australia's fabled Great Barrier Reef is under threat and could face extinction scientists warn if action is not taken immediately to help end its destruction. According to a new report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that tracks coral in the natural wonder over the past three decades, it discovered that nearly 50 percent of the coral has perished. Its massive display of biodiversity could be gone if environmental concerns are not addressed, the researchers said. They listed three key factors that are causing the destruction of the Great Barrier Reef: “tropical cyclones, attacks from the coral predator the crown-of-thorns starfish, and rising water temperatures.” Much of that blame can be leveled at human causes, which have seen climate change cause rising sea levels and water temperatures due to humanity's destructive practices in recent decades. The report said that due to these factors, coral cover in the area has dropped from 28 percent in 1985 to 13 percent today, according to the team, which carried out the largest-ever continuous survey of reef condition for the study. It said human impact on the environment can occur “even when significant efforts are being made to protect a region, as they are in the Great Barrier Reef.” Scientists believe that cyclones and the rising water temperatures are related to “man-caused global warming.” The researchers linked the rising numbers of predatory starfish to increases in the nutrient content of the water that flows from rivers into the ocean due to more intensive farming efforts and urban runoff. It isn't the first study to report on the destruction of coral reefs in the Asia-Pacific region. Activities such as coastal development, pollution, overfishing and other coastal endeavors are causing the degradation of the massive coral reefs that encompass Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, The Solomon Islands, and East Timor and contain nearly 30 percent of the world's reefs and more than 3,000 species of fish, a report published in July said. That report, revealed at the International Coral Reef Symposium in Cairns, said the threat was “substantially more than the global average of 60 percent" and called for governments in the region to push forward on greater efforts to reduce destructive fishing and run-off from land. “When these threats are combined with recent coral bleaching, prompted by rising ocean temperatures, the percent of reefs rated as threatened increases to more than 90 percent," the report said. More than 130 million people living in the region rely on reef ecosystems for food, employment, and revenue from tourism, according to “Reefs at Risk Revisited in the Coral Triangle." “Across the Coral Triangle region, coastal communities depend on coral reefs for food, livelihoods, and protection from waves during storms, but the threats to reefs in this region are incredibly high," said lead author Lauretta Burke at the meeting. “Reefs are resilient – they can recover from coral bleaching and other impacts – particularly if other threats are low. “The benefits reefs provide are at risk, which is why concerted action to mitigate threats to reefs across the Coral Triangle region is so important." The report by the World Resources Institute, in collaboration with environmental groups WWF, The Nature Conservancy and Conservation International, will be used by the 6 countries to develop their management of the reefs. “(The report) is an important contribution for supporting the six Coral Triangle countries in making critical decisions related to protecting their marine resources," said Maurice Knight, a contributing author. “The region-wide perspective on the status of coral reefs as depicted in this report demonstrates the urgency of the situation and the need for immediate action."
