Outside magazine has declared Australia’s Great Barrier Reef dead at the age of 25 million years.
“For most of its life, the reef was the world’s largest living structure, and the only one visible from space. It was 1,400 miles long, with 2,900 individual reefs and 1,050 islands. In total area, it was larger than the United Kingdom, and it contained more biodiversity than all of Europe combined. It harbored 1,625 species of fish, 3,000 species of mollusk, 450 species of coral, 220 species of birds, and 30 species of whales and dolphins.”
Cause of death was climate change and ocean acidification.
Reports of its death are greatly exaggerated, to paraphrase Mark Twain. The Conde Nast Traveler says it’s just some coral bleaching and the reef will eventually recover.
“In reality, the tragic state of the Great Barrier Reef should be a wake-up call… large sections escaped from the 2016 bleaching, and are in reasonable shape. The message should be that it isn’t too late for Australia to lift its game and better protect the GBR, not we should all give up because the GBR is supposedly dead.”
We report. You decide.
