ARE YOU READY FOR REEF FACTS?
- The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef system in the world, but it has lost over 50% of its coral cover in less than 30 years. Experts predict that it could lose ANOTHER 50% in the next 10. (Which is why Leo is so fired up.)
- The three main causes for this decline are mostly climate-related: storm damage (48%), the crown-of-thorns starfish, which eats coral (42%), and coral bleaching (10%).
- Despite this bleak outlook, the Australian government is now introducing a new threat to the reef that could be the final nail in its coffin: opening it up to be the next one-stop shop for coal and gas exports. This will mean dredging of up to 100 million tons of Great Barrier Reef seabed, the construction of four megaports alongside the Great Barrier Reef (including the world’s largest coal port), and an estimated 7,400 ships crisscrossing the fragile reef every year by 2020.
