Warning Great Barrier Reef is reaching a ‘point from which it cannot recover’

• The Great Barrier Reef has suffered its steepest annual decline in live coral cover, as reported by the Australian Institute of Marine Science (Aims).
• This decline follows a record-breaking marine heatwave in 2024, which triggered the worst bleaching events in nearly four decades.
• Heat stress from climate change is identified as the primary cause of mass bleaching, worsened by factors such as cyclones and crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks.
• Aims found that two of the three areas monitored since 1986 experienced coral losses, marking the largest annual decline recorded.
• Researchers warn that the reef faces a "volatile" future and may reach a "point from which it cannot recover" due to the increasing frequency of mass bleaching events.

IN FULL

Great Barrier Reef sees sharpest annual coral decline in nearly four decades