Australia: Slow down the disappearance of coral at all costs

According to Australian scientists, creating “bright clouds” and allowing corals to withstand heat are two techniques. This will cause the Great Barrier to disappear due to global warming.

The site in Northeast Australia, which was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981, is expected to “deteriorate rapidly” over the next fifty years due to climate change, according to a study published in the Royal Society’s Open Science magazine.

“Corals are one of the most climate-sensitive ecosystems,” lead writer Scott Conte told the AFP.

“According to sample projects, the proportion of corals within the Great Barrier Reef rock could drop to 10% in 20 years,” he said.

However, Kandy, a senior researcher at the Australian National Science Foundation (CSIRO), said the decline could be mitigated by pursuing large-scale projects on a planetary basis.

The Great Barrier Reef has already bleached three episodes in five years, while the first half since 1995 has disappeared due to rising water temperatures.

Candy and the other authors of this article modeled the impact of the “brightening the clouds” technique on the impact of testing the first major barrier last year.

It contains salt crystals that shine into clouds and they cool the water around the rocks.

They also model control measures against a predatory starfish species that feed on corals and thrive through bleaching, which causes large fish to leave the area.

“By combining these measures, the results suggest that the fall of the Great Barrier Reef could be delayed by two decades or more,” he said. Candy said.

He confirmed that this was “urgent” and that the scientist needed “more important and enormous investments than ever before”.

This model assumes that global temperatures will not rise above 1.8 degrees by 2100, forcing governments to fulfill their obligations under the Paris Climate Agreement.

(Source: AFP, General)