GREAT BARRIER REEF could turn into 'wasteland of bleached coral' in 25 years.

Global warming could turn Australia's Great Barrier Reef into a wasteland of bleached coral in 25 years, says a scientific report leaked yesterday.

The extraordinary diversity of marine life found on the 1,200-mile-long reef could be little more than a memory for future generations unless the emission of greenhouse gases is curbed, it says.
The effects of bleaching can be seen already in sections of the Great Barrier Reef, whose size can be gauged from space
The reef, the world's largest living organism, will become "functionally extinct", according to the confidential draft of a report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change due to be released later this year.

Coral bleaching in Australian waters is likely to become an annual occurrence by as early as 2030 due to warmer, more acidic seas, it says.

Bleaching happens when the water temperature rises to the point where it kills the tiny polyps that make up the coral, leaving behind the white limestone skeleton of the reef. "We've got a major economic and environmental problem unless we heed the call of these scientists," said Don Henry, the head of the Australian Conservation Foundation. "I think the science is getting clearer about just how serious and urgent it is."

The Great Barrier Reef covers 134,000 square miles off the coast of Queensland — an area only slightly smaller than Germany or Japan. It consists of hundreds of interlocking reefs which each year attract two million visitors. >>>> Cont

LinkHere