Qld:Reef could be dead in 20 years

AAP General News (Australia)
04-06-2007
Qld:Reef could be dead in 20 years

The Great Barrier Reef could be dead in 20 years unless there's a drastic reduction
in greenhouse gas emissions according to a marine biology expert.

Rising sea temperatures are bleaching the coral and causing it to die .. according
to Professor OVE HOEGH-GULDBERG.

He says at the same time .. increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are
turning the world's oceans more acidic .. and preventing corals forming their limestone
skeletons.

Professor HOEGH-GULDBERG and Professor TERRY HUGHES provided expert advice to the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change which released its latest report in Brussels this evening.







Professor HOEGH-GULDBERG says in 20 to 50 years the Great Barrier Reef's live corals
could be replaced by things like sea weed.

He says the warning signs have been around since 1998 when a major bleaching event
caused the death of 16 per cent of the world's coral.

The professor says our reefs are like a canary in a coal mine for other vulnerable
areas like glaciers and rainforests.

AAP RTV rad/bart/imc/

KEYWORD: CLIMATE REEF (BRISBANE)

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