Barrier Reef has ‘poor’ prospects of survival

AUSTRALIA’S Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest living organism, is under grave threat from climate warming and coastal development, and its prospects of survival are “poor,” a major new report has found.

While the World Heritage-protected site, which sprawls for more than 345,000sq km off Australia’s east coast, is in a better position than most other reefs globally, the risk of its destruction was mounting.

“Even with the recent management initiatives to improve resilience, the overall outlook for the Great Barrier Reef is poor and catastrophic damage to the ecosystem may not be averted,” a government reef management body said.