A new severe bleaching event and heat stress at the Great Barrier Reef has been recorded, as experts warn of the need for Australia to do more to address climate change to protect the reef.
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA), the regulator responsible for managing the Reef, said the bleaching is widespread, and ranges in impact from minor to severe.
"The most heavily impacted reefs are around the Townsville region," the GBRMPA said in its reef health update today.
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"There have also been reports of early mortality where heat stress has been the greatest.
"Corals across the Marine Park remain vulnerable to the ongoing elevated temperatures."
The Great Barrier Reef has suffered from substantial bleaching in 1998, 2002, 2016, 2017, 2020, and now again this year, something marine experts say is due to climate change.
"That's four times since 2016. The Reef is now suffering widespread bleaching damage at the rate of more than once every two years," Richard Leck, head of oceans for the WWF for Nature-Australia, said.
"Coral bleaching is directly attributable to climate change caused by rising global emissions. Reducing Australia's domestic and exported emissions fast, this decade, is the main solution within our control."
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Between 2020 and the time Australia is predicted to reach net zero in line with the federal government's current plans, domestic emissions are estimated to total 9.6 billion tonnes, climate science experts from Climate Resource say.
The organisation says for Australia to remain below 1.5C, domestic emissions should only equal four billion tonnes.
"We're going to blow our emissions budget by more than double," Mr Leck said.
Malte Meinshausen, scientific co-director of Climate Resource, says "there is a clear gap between the emissions reduction consistent with limiting warming to 1.5°C and Australia's emissions targets".
The GBRMPA says temperatures in March this year on the Reef have been above average by "half a degree to two degrees in most places, but up to four degrees in some places".
"These thermal anomalies have worsened since the start of March, which is counter to what we would expect in a typical March when the conditions would generally be getting cooler."
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A monitoring mission is expected to travel to Queensland to assess the damage inflicted on the Reef after it warned "that accelerated action at all possible levels is required to address the threat from climate change in accordance with the Paris Agreement".
"It's not too late for Australia to make changes that give the Reef the best chance of survival and avoids downgrading its World Heritage status," the World Heritage Committee said.
"It's our Reef; it's our responsibility."
