AustraliaThe heat caused by climate change severely damaged the world’s largest coral system in the latest bleaching event.
A cluster of bleached corals on the Great Barrier Reef. Image: AFP
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority conducted extensive surveys of the Great Barrier Reef, or Great Barrier Reef, between September 2021 and March 2022 and discovered that After the water started to warm in December last year due to a heat wave, all three main areas of the world’s largest coral system experienced bleaching, according to the report released on May 10. .
Bleaching typically occurs due to fluctuations in ocean temperatures, which stress healthy corals and expel algae that live inside their tissues. Moderately bleached corals can still survive and recover, but severe bleaching puts them at a higher mortality rate.
Out of 719 coral reefs surveyed, the report said that 654 reefs were bleached (accounting for 91%). This is the fourth “mass bleaching” event in just six years for the Great Barrier Reef system and the first recorded during the La Nina weather cycle, when temperatures would normally be cooler.
“Climate change is escalating and coral reefs have to bear the brunt of this,” the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority said in a statement.
The report was released just 11 days before Australia’s federal election, a time when climate change policies have emerged as a key issue for voters.
“Bleaching events are becoming more and more frequent, but this is not normal and we shouldn’t accept things as such. Both major political parties need to face the reality that their climate goals are. They’re not doing enough to save the reef,” said Australian Marine Conservation Society campaigner Lissa Schindler.
Next month, the United Nations World Heritage Committee will decide whether to list the Great Barrier Reef as “threatened”.
Doan Duong (According to AFP)
at Blogtuan.info – Source: vnexpress.net – Read the original article here
