The Great Barrier Reef.

The Great Barrier Reef: health downgraded. Photo: Simon O'Dwyer


The Great Barrier Reef is the ocean's equivalent of Africa's Serengeti; a haven for life's wonders, from majestic whales, dolphins, and porpoise to skittish pipefish, clownfish and delicately frilled seahorses.

For millions of people overseas, the reef is their lasting memory of visiting the country, and reef tourism rakes in more than $5 billion a year from its human visitors.

Whether we like it or not, Australians have a responsibility for looking after the reef.

And we are letting it slip away. That's crystal clear. The latest reef report card, compiled with work from many scientific disciplines, paints a picture of continued decline. Half the entire reef's coral has vanished in the past 27 years.

There are several overlapping threats. The first, most pressing, is that of polluted water running off from farms and industry along the Queensland coast. Here the government appears to have fudged some of the figures, pushing back some targets for cutting pollution for a few more years.

But there has still been progress on that front. Many farmers are getting the message, and chemical and fertiliser discharges are starting to be reduced.

To the credit of the scientists, farming communities and the state and federal governments, water pollution is starting to turn around.

The next threat revolves around the industrialisation of the reef, with the construction of giant new ports for handling unprecedented amounts of coal and gas. It will involve massive dredging operations to build the ports, a huge increase in tanker traffic, and even the threat of oil spills.

The third threat to the reef is also related to the planned expansion in fossil fuel exports. Climate change - specifically rising water temperatures and an increasingly acidic ocean - bleaches and destroys coral. Even under some of the most optimistic scenarios for holding back temperature rises, the reef as we know it will be gone.

The degradation of the Great Barrier Reef is a national disgrace of the highest order, and repairing it should go beyond politics.