The Hindu : Faces threat

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 12, 2003

International

International - Globescan

Faces threat

SYDNEY: Australia's Great Barrier Reef — the world's largest chain of living coral — could be devastated by global warming over the next 50 years unless drastic action is taken, a report said on Monday. The Australian Institute of Marine Science and other agencies warned that without tough restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions, sea temperatures could rise to a level that would bleach and kill vast tracts of coral. ``The appearance of coral reefs and thus their amenity for tourism may be seriously compromised, and their productivity and biodiversity decimated,'' it said. Coral bleaching — when colourful reefs turn white — occurs when the water temperature gets so high that it kills the algae which populate the corals. It can occur if the temperature rises by as little as 1 degree Celsius above the monthly summer average. Water temperatures in the reef vary between 22 degrees Celsius in winter and 29 degrees Celsius in summer (the picture shows a baby dugong riding on the back of its mother in the waters off the Australian coast in this undated file picture).

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