After
decades of damning reports, bleak images, and depressing
headlines, one new report claims to have a “positive update” on the Great
Barrier Reef (GBR). The
Reef & Rainforest Research Centre (RRRC), a non-profit organization, has
published a report for the Queensland State Government that claims parts of the
GBR are showing some “signification signs” of recovery from years of bleaching.
Don’t
crack out the champagne just yet, though - the future of the world's largest
coral reef (or any
coral reef, for that matter) is still not
looking rosy. At all.
While
scientists and policymakers have been working hard to support the reefs, this
recent development is primarily thanks to of a milder 2017-18 summer. The
welcoming weather has allowed parts of the reef to regain some of its
health following the catastrophic
bleaching events of 2016 and 2017, but all it takes is another bad
reason and it’s back to square one.
“Saxon
Reef, for example, suffered some form of bleaching on 47.1 percent of its live
coral cover during the 2016 event. Fortunately, much of the bleached coral
recovered thanks to better conditions experienced in 2018,” Sheriden Morris,
RRRC Managing Director, said in a
statement.
“However,
this recovery is always going to be contingent on environmental conditions.”