91% of Australia's Great Barrier Reef has bleached
Environment — di Andrea Barolini
A government study has found that the vast majority of the Great Barrier Reef is affected by the bleaching phenomenon.
91% of Australia's Great Barrier Reef has bleached
A government study has found that the vast majority of the Great Barrier Reef is affected by the bleaching phenomenon.
The exceptional heat that has characterised the southern summer is causing dramatic consequences for the Great Barrier Reef. The damage that one of the world's most delicate and biodiversity-rich ecosystems risks suffering is enormous. Around 91 per cent of the corals, according to a report published by the government of Australia on the evening of Tuesday 10 May, have already undergone bleaching as a result of weather conditions.
719 coral reefs analysed between September 2021 and March 2022
The analysis examined a total of 719 reefs, over the period between September 2021 and March of this year. It concluded that the phenomenon — which consists of the expulsion of the algae that give corals their vivid colours — had affected as many as 654 of them. This is the first time the Great Barrier Reef has suffered consequences of such a magnitude. Particularly during a period in which La Niña was present, which normally brings with it lower-than-average water temperatures.
"Climate change is intensifying and corals are suffering the consequences," the report stated. It recalls that this is the fourth bleaching event since 2016. The waters around the Great Barrier Reef began to warm from December of last year, affecting the three main areas in which the corals are located. When the latter are hit by bleaching, it does not mean they are dead. They can recover, but in the meantime they are more vulnerable and therefore at risk of not surviving.
The study on the Great Barrier Reef published days before the elections
The government report was published just days before the elections, scheduled in Australia for 21 May. These, however, offer little cause for optimism from the perspective of climate change: while Prime Minister Scott Morrison has repeatedly stated his intention to continue exporting coal "as long as there is demand," and to use it domestically, the opposition is also falling short. Not even the Labour Party, in fact, includes in its programme the abandonment of the fossil fuel that is by far the most damaging to the climate.
#BreakingNews
Un rapporto pubblicato dalla Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority ha rivelato che lo sbiancamento dei coralli ha colpito il 91% delle barriere coralline esaminate lungo la #GreatBarrierReef quest'anno.
bit.ly/3stxScG
#ClimateCrisis
Un rapporto pubblicato dalla Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority ha rivelato che lo sbiancamento dei coralli ha colpito il 91% delle barriere coralline esaminate lungo la #GreatBarrierReef quest'anno.
bit.ly/3stxScG
#ClimateCrisis
"Although it is an increasingly frequent phenomenon — Lissa Schingler declared, an activist with the Australian Marine Conservation Society — bleaching is not normal. And therefore we must not accept it. The two main parties must face the facts: their climate targets are not sufficient to protect the reef."