Table of Contents
• Australia pledged half-a-billion dollars to restore and protect the Great Barrier Reef.
• The reef is a critical national asset, contributing 6.4 billion dollars a year to the
Australian economy.
• A study in the journal Nature said some 30 per cent of the reef’s coral perished.
• The reef “probably has not faced changes in SST (sea surface temperature) and acidification at
such a rate.
•site suffered a “catastrophic die-off” of coral during an extended heatwave in 2016,
threatening a broader range of reef life than previously feared.
• coral bleaching due to warming sea temperatures linked to climate change.
The reef is also under threat from the coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish, which has proliferated due to pollution and agricultural runoff.
•The crown-of-thorns starfish is native to coral reefs in the Indo Pacific
region.
• Crown-of-thorns starfish spawn during the warmer months (around
October to February), with large females capable of producing up to
65 million eggs over the spawning season.
• On healthy coral reefs, the coral-eating starfish plays an important role, as it
tends to feed on the fastest growing corals such as stag horn and plate corals,
allowing slower growing coral species to form colonies. This helps increase coral
diversity. However, outbreaks of the venomous starfish pose one of the most significant threats
to the Great Barrier Reef.
•With its heavy use of coal-fired power and relatively small population, Australia is considered
one of the world’s worst per-capita greenhouse gas polluters.
STEPS
•improving water quality, tackling predators, and expanding restoration efforts.
• Canberra insists it is taking strong action to address the global threat of climate
change, having set an ambitious target to reduce emissions by 26 to 28 per cent
from 2005 levels by 2030.
• To improve water quality by changing farming practices and adopting new technologies and land management.
• working with farmers to prevent sediment, nitrogen and pesticide runoff into the reef
•tackle the crown-of-thorns.
• work with traditional Aboriginal owners, the tourist industry, farmers and scientists, to save the reef.
Ques. What is coral bleaching? Explain its impact on ocean ecology.
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