Around 91% of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef suffered ‘bleaching’ due to a prolonged heat wave during the austral summer, according to a new government report released on Tuesday evening.
Of the 719 reefs surveyed, 654, or 91%, exhibit some level of coral bleaching. This is the first time that the largest coral reef in the world has been affected by such bleaching during the La Nina climatic phenomenon, usually characterized by abnormally low water temperatures.
“Climate change is intensifying and the reef is already feeling the consequences,” warns the monitoring report, which points out that this is the fourth wave of “bleaching” to hit the reef since 2016.
Between September 2021 and March 2022, the Great Barrier Reef Maritime Authority, which published this study, carried out exhaustive surveys on this reef, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
She found that the waters began to warm in late December and that the three main regions where the barrier is located were hit by this phenomenon, which results in discoloration due to the expulsion of algae giving the coral its color. live.
Bleached corals remain alive and can recover if conditions improve, but “heavily bleached corals have higher mortality rates,” said the report, an early version of which was released in March.
This report was published ten days before the Australian federal elections on May 21, during which the government’s policy on climate change will be at the heart of the issues.
In June, UNESCO must decide whether to include the Great Barrier Reef on the list of “endangered” sites.
Australia launched a billion-dollar “Reef 2050” protection plan after the United Nations threatened in 2015 to decommission the site.