The Great Barrier Reef’s long-term outlook has been downgraded in a grim new report that also warned businesses to “prepare for change”.
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority releases a report every five years that looks into the health of the reef and the latest analysis changed the reef’s overall outlook from “poor” to “very poor”.
The Outlook Report 2019 noted the region had deteriorated since 2009, when it was considered to be at a “crossroads between a positive, well-managed future and a less certain one”. In 2014, it was seen as an “icon under pressure” but this year, the report noted “Australia is caring for a changed and less resilient reef”.
It warned that those in the marine tourism and fishing industries, who were reliant on a functioning reef, will face coral becoming less diverse and a change in the fish seen while snorkelling and fishing.
“Reef-dependent users need to prepare for this change,” the report said.
The report said without extra local, national and global action on the greatest threats, the overall outlook for the reef’s ecosystem would remain “very poor”.
“The window of opportunity to improve the reef’s long-term future is now,” the report stated.
“The reef is core to Australia’s identity and improving its outlook is critical.”
While climate change was identified as the most significant threat to the region’s long-term outlook, poor water quality also continued to affect many areas and there has only been a slow improvement in pollution from agricultural land practices.
“The scientific evidence is clear: initiatives that will halt and reverse the effects of climate change at a global level and effectively improve water quality at a regional scale are the most urgent to improve the region’s long-term outlook,” the report stated.
Gradual sea temperature increase and extremes, such as marine heatwaves, have caused mass bleaching events in 2016 and 2017, which have damaged coral and impacted fish communities.
Some coral reef habitats in the region have been downgraded from “poor” to “very poor” due to record-breaking sea surface temperatures, while others remain in a good condition.
Many species have been assessed as being in “poor to very poor condition”.
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“This report is a very sobering assessment from the body charged with managing the Great Barrier Reef,” Australian Conservation Foundation chief executive officer Kelly O’Shanassy said.
Ms O’Shanassy said Australia needed to shift to clean, renewable energy in the next decade and not make the problem worse by facilitating new coal mines, like Adani’s.
Meanwhile in a separate annual Reef Water Quality Report Card produced by the Queensland and Federal governments, the inshore reef scored a “D” for its overall condition.
This score is based on the state of coral, seagrass and water quality.
WWF-Australia Head of Oceans Richard Leck said these comprehensive reports were based on the best available science and were sombre reminders of the challenges the reef faces.
“The Reef 2050 Plan is required to be revamped next year and must take climate change seriously and regulations to reduce farm run-off currently before the Queensland Parliament must be passed,” Mr Leck said. “The science is irrefutable — the time for delay is over.”
Mr Leck Australia needed to transition its current domestic and export coal energy base to 100 per cent renewables by 2030.
“The benefits in rising to this challenge will not only help shore up Australia’s economic future, but also dramatically increase our ability to retain a vibrant and prospering Great Barrier Reef,” he said.
Mr Leck said the Outlook Report had major implications for the World Heritage status of the reef.
In its 2015 decision, the World Heritage Committee said it would reconsider the reef’s condition in 2020 after the delivery of the 2019 Outlook Report.
“Nobody wants to see the reef placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger,” he said.
“Australia can continue to fail on climate policy and remain a major coal exporter or Australia can turn around the reef’s decline. But it can’t do both. That’s clear from the government’s own scientific reports.”
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