Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Just how long do we have to wait until the Great Barrier Reef is dead? The Reef allegedly went critical in the great El-Nino of 1998. Ever since, reef scientists have been bombarding us with dire predictions and demanding billions of dollars and urgent action to “save” it.
Australia’s Great Barrier Reef ‘critical’ due to climate change
International Union for Conservation of Nature report says more than a third of world’s heritage sites are of ‘significant concern’ or ‘critical’.
The health of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the world’s most extensive coral reef ecosystem, is in a critical state and deteriorating as climate change warms the waters around it, an international conservation group said, warning that more than a third of the world’s heritage sites are similarly threatened.
The World Heritage-listed site off Australia’s northeastern coast has lost more than half its coral in the past three decades.
Coral-bleaching in 2016, 2017 and 2020 has further damaged its health and affected its animal, bird and marine population, the International Union for Conservation of Nature said in a report.
Bleaching occurs when hotter water destroys the algae upon which the coral feeds, causing it to turn white.
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My question – what evidence is there that bleaching is bad for coral reefs? Perhaps coral bleaching is like trees dropping their leaves – a completely normal part of the natural cycle.
Great Barrier Reef death in five years is “laughable”
Daniel Bateman, The Cairns PostMay 21, 2016 5:00am
CLAIMS by a James Cook University professor that the Great Barrier Reef will be “terminal” in five years have been rubbished by one of his own colleagues.
In a scientific paper released this week, JCU’s Dr Jon Brodie and Professor Richard Pearson warned the natural wonder would be in a terminal condition within five years without a $10 billion commitment during the federal election campaign to improve water quality.
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But JCU marine geophysicist Professor Peter Ridd said his colleagues’ claims were “laughable”.
“I think the threats to the Barrier Reef are greatly exaggerated and mostly based upon science that is very poorly quality assured,’’ he said.
Latest findings by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority show 93 per cent of the natural wonder has varying levels of coral bleaching which was worse in remote parts off Cape York.
Prof Ridd said bleaching was an entirely natural event.
“It has always occurred over the millennia, and this is nothing special,’’ he said. “It’s no different to say that on the land, when in extremely dry conditions for example, eucalypt trees lose their leaves
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Time has vindicate Peter Ridd’s 2016 criticism of alarmist claims the reef would be terminal in 5 years. Even the most pessimistic reef scientists agree the reef is still alive enough to be worth them continuing to receive millions of dollars of research funding.
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via Watts Up With That?
December 6, 2020 at 01:01AM
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