Heartbroken Scientist Admits the Great Barrier Reef is Now 'Terminal'
"We've failed." FIONA MACDONALD 10 APR 2017 The last thing the world needs now is more bad news, but unfortunately we can't ignore the fact that, after yet another mass bleaching event, scientists are now admitting Australia's Great Barrier Reef is in a " terminal stage ". After a record-hot Australian summer, the latest surveys reveal that two-thirds of the Great Barrier Reef has now been damaged by severe coral bleaching – less than 12 months after 93 percent of it experienced bleaching in 2016. This year, the damage has spread further south. Out of the 2,300 km (1,430 miles) of Great Barrier Reef, 1,500 km (932 miles) is now bleached, the surveys found – and this year we can't blame an El Nino event . Researchers estimate that it would take even the fastest growing coral about a decade to recover - but that would require a year or two without any bleaching to give the corals an opportunity to regrow. ...