The outlook of the Great Barrier Reef has been officially downgraded from poor to very poor, and you can blame this to climate change and pollution.
The rising temps are caused by the human activities that harm the environment, thanks to the human-driven global warming, the outlook of the reef have been downgraded.
An official report from the Australian government says the reef has been damaged for years after warmer seas killed corals and affected their long term health.
The Great Barrier Reef is over 2300 kilometers wide and is a designated World Heritage site.
It was designated in 1981 for its “enormous scientific and intrinsic importance”.
Every 5 years, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) is required to make a report on the state of the reef.
In their first report, which was in 2014, scientists said that the reef was “at a crossroads between a positive, well-managed future and a less certain one”.
In 2014, the reef was stated as an “icon under pressure”.
In this year’s report, it said that “the region has further deteriorated and, in 2019, Australia is caring for a changed and less resilient reef.”
Rising sea temperature caused mass bleaching events in 2016 and 2017.
The mass bleaching events damaged and destroyed huge habitats for sea life.
There are some areas in the Great Barrier Reef that is in a good state, but the condition of the reef overall is not good.
This year’s report said, “Threats to the reef are multiple, cumulative and increasing. The window of opportunity to improve the Reef’s long-term future is now.”
Last year, Australia pledged $500 million to protect the Great Barrier Reef.
Researchers said that the number of new corals on the Great Barrier Reef plummeted by 89 percent. This was caused by bleaching events that affected 1500 kilometers of the heritage site.