Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef system in the world. It has more than 900 coral islands, 2,900 individual reefs that stretches over 2,300 kilometres. The reef is located in the coral sea along the coast of Queensland in Australia. It was selected as the World Heritage site by the UNESCO in 1981.

About Great Barrier Reef

In June 2021, the World Heritage Committee suggested to add the Great Barrier Reef to the in-danger list. With this the reef will get international help to save them.

Geography of Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef extends from Torres Strait in the north to the Lady Elliot Island in the south. About 25 million years ago, the northern Queensland was in temperate waters and was too cool to support the growth of the corals.

Geology of Great Barrier Reef

The substrate, that is, the platform holding the Great Barrier Reef is 600,000 years old. However, the current and living structure started growing 20,000 years ago. It was during the Last Glacial Maximum period. During those times, the sea level was 120 metres lower than it is today. As the sea level rose, the corals grew higher and higher.

Environmental threats

Pollution, Climate change, fishing are the primary threats to Great Barrier Reef. The other threats are oil spills, shipping accidents and tropical cyclones. The corals are also affected by Skeletal Eroding Band, a disease caused by protozoans. Since 1985, the Great Barrier Reef has lost more than two-thirds of its corals.

Other threats of Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is also affected by the loss of coastal wetland, eutrophication, sediment runoff, pesticides and pollution from mining. The Crown of thorns starfish feeds on coral polyps. The large outbreak of these starfish in 2000 killed more than 66% of live coral polyps. The outbreaks of crown of thorns starfish occurs in natural cycles due to overfishing of its predators also due to poor water quality.

Great Barrier Reef Bleaching

The bleaching events in Great Barrier Reef are not documented properly. The coral bleaching occurs due to marine heatwaves. Earlier coral bleaching in Great Barrier Reef occurred in 1998, 2002, 2006, 2016, 2017 and 2020.

International Conservation initiatives of Great Barrier Reef

The global initiatives to save Great Barrier Reef are as follows:

  • International Coral Reef Initiative: It is an informal partnership launched by international organizations to protect coral reefs. It aims to implement the Target 10 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (COD) ten-year strategic plan.
  • Global Coral Reef Alliance
  • Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network
  • Global Coral Reef R&D Accelerator Programme: It is a G20 initiative and India is a part of this initiative. It aims to create global research and development programme that will conserve corals.

Reef 2050 Plan

The plan was created by the Queensland Government and the Australian Government. The plan is to protect and preserve the reef within 35 years. It is a long-term sustainability plan that includes reef restoration, improving water quality, killing predatory starfish, etc. However, it does not include the root cause of the problem, which is, climate change. Around 443 million Australian Dollars was allocated to the plan in 2018.


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