Great Barrier Reef Environmental Issues

The 2014 Great Barrier Reef outlook report identifies ports as a moderate to major threat to the Great Barrier Reef, and outlines the impacts port activity has, including dredging and dumping of waste, increased risk of oil and chemical spills, and diminished aesthetic values. It also links problems with ports with shipping issues impacting the reef.

Corals build colonies that secrete calcium carbonate to form ocean reefs. When they're healthy, coral reefs provide shelter and food for animals all along the food chain, including the top: us. Across the planet, half a billion people rely, directly and indirectly, on corals for their living. That's why what happens to the 9,000-year-old Great Barrier Reef, as well as to other reefs worldwide, is critical. The floods in Queensland have hurt the Great Barrier Reef by funnelling into the ocean vast plumes of freshwater and agricultural runoff that could severely damage the coral. Besides the extreme rain that sparked the floods, rising ocean temperatures, changes to the ocean's chemistry and the global trade in natural resources — all symptoms of our fossil-fuel economy — are waging a multiform war on the marine

How the Australian Great Barrier Reef Succeeds at Preservation and Sustainable Use and How it Applies to a Worldwide Problem

The Great Barrier Reef is known as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It is believed to be one of the most incredible places on this earth. This reef is the largest living organism on this planet and the only living thing on earth visible from space (2011). The warm waters of the southwest Pacific Ocean are the perfect environments to create the world's largest system of coral reefs. The Great Barrier Reef is in such pristine condition that it was listed by the World Heritage Trust as a protected site and is therefore, managed by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to ensure that its beauty is maintained for many travelers and sightseers (Edgar 2010). Due to the complexity of this natural phenomenon, human practices have led

Because the GBR is such a highly visited tourist attraction for snorkeling and diving, there has been a large number of human structures that have been built in natural areas. Every five years, the Australian government publishes an Outlook Report that examines the Great Barrier Reef’s health, pressures, and likely future. “The report is required under Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975 (section 54) and aims to provide a regular and reliable means of assessing reef health and management in an accountable and transparent way.” The report shows the actions that have been taken since 2009, including the focus on improving the quality of water that runs off the land. The increased freshwater run-off is in direct relation to the coastal development that has occurred since the major bleaching events have begun. The report released in 2009, states that the greatest risks to the Reef are still climate change, land-based runoff, coastal development, and some remaining impacts of fishing and illegal fishing and poaching. The report points out climate change as being the main cause of the destruction or bleaching of the reef (Department of Environment and Energy 2017). Most observers conclude that the climate change is a direct result of human

The Great Barrier Reef is under threat due to many human impacts and natural impacts. These impacts lead to other consequences that may harm our society as well. For example, if the Great Barrier Reef was to be damaged by pollution, tourism levels would decrease, which can lead to a drop in the economic stance of Australia. For these reasons, it is important to keep our ecosystems safe and protected. Some of the human impacts towards the Great Barrier Reef include:

Consequently, there are two important factors that contribute to the ignorance of the Great Barrier Reef ‘s impacts. First, Mr. Hunt’s

The GBRMPA as an organisation strives to protect the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park by ensuring all human interactions with the reef are ecologically sustainable and maintain it’s natural

While government officials looked the other way, half of the coral has disappeared from along the length of the Great Barrier Reef. Additionally, vast areas of the reef’s coral have suffered serious degradation. It isn’t surprising that the area’s unique level of biodiversity is being threatened by the damage as well.

The Great Barrier Reef is one of the most beloved regions of the world but due to recent human activity in surrounding areas and subsequent sediment delivery, coral and seagrass habits within are being negatively impacted. Extending 2000km along the North-eastern Australian coast (Brodie et al., 2007), the Great Barrier Reef is a major source of income for Northern Australia and fuels the growth of local businesses. As industrialization in areas adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef lagoon have increased since European settlement (McCulloch et al., 2003), the need for more resources to compensate for human population has led to harmful land practices such as overstocking and deforestation for cattle grazing inland. These are causing a significant

The Great Barrier Reef always under constant threat due to pollution, human use, global warming, crown thorn starfish and more. The Australian Governments putting new systems in place to try and save the reef. They currently have the 2050 reef plan in action as a long-term sustainability strategy along with contributing millions of dollars to the Reef Trust.

Does the impact of anthropogenic processes, such as dredging, and the environmental degradation it has caused in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park outweigh the exigency for shipping channels?

For a property to be considered as having outstanding universal value under the World Heritage Convention if it is of “cultural and/or natural significance which is so exceptional as to transcend national boundaries and to be of common importance for present and future generations of all humanity” (unesco). Compromising of an estimated 2,500 interconnected coral reefs this comprehensibly diversified marine habitat represents as one of the world’s most extensive coral reef ecosystems. Yet after almost four decades since The Great Barrier Reef’s World Heritage listing, Australia’s most valuable environmental assets, the reef’s health is reported to be declining distressingly (1, 360link). The Reef is under unprecedented pressure from a range of threats including climate change, Extreme weather, Declining water quality, coastal development, illegal fishing, crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks and marine Debris

Human activity largely impacts the Great Barrier Reef, from tourists to wider world issues such as climate change humans are widely responsible for damaging many ecosystems. Tourism has both negative and positive effects on the Great Barrier Reef. The main positive is the revenue that the tourism creates for local communities, this money can also go towards the upkeep of the area surrounding the Great Barrier Reef, and also by helping spread the message of how delicate the Great Barrier Reef’s ecosystem is. However tourism also has many negative impacts on the Great Barrier Reef. With more people in one area, the demand for natural resources increases. This can result in the overuse of natural resources as well as producing more waste and pollution. Some tourists may also not obey the rules at the Great Barrier Reef, this can cause damage to different organisms in the Great Barrier Reef.

The increasing population of the Crown of Thorn’s starfish (COTS) is currently a hot topic, especially with regards to the conservation of the Great Barrier Reef. The COTS feeds on the living coral using its hundreds of sucking tubes within its arms, and its eating habits are not sustainable and too much coral is being consumed. This is a major contributor of the decline in coral cover at the Great Barrier Reef (Lucas, 2013). This is one of the main causes of coral cover decline along with cyclones, pollutant discharge from the land, coastal development and climate change affects. (The conservation 2012).