The Great Barrier Reef in Risk

    Is normal that you could be forgiven for thinking everything is calm and okay on the Great Barrier Reef. There are kilometres of gorgeous coral and a bustling ecosystem around it. These incredible coral reef is considered as a humanity heritage but globalisation is destroying it. For that reason, most of enviromental groups like Greenpeace are healping to protecting it.

    It is the reef you grew up seeing on documentaries and on films also. And, above the water, the reef is supporting an astonishing colonies of a lot of type of birds, fishes... It's one of the most highly diverse ecosystems in the Earth and this reef has the highest marine biodiversity on Earth.

    However, driven by climate change, the northern parts of the reef are suffering the worst damage ever recorded there. Scientists said that if we continue like that we will destroy the Coral Reef in the next years. Last year, the reef was close for being added to the World Heritage Convention’s list of world heritage in danger. At the time the enviro-legal groups of Australia released a report saying it was clear the condition of the reef met the criteria to be considered “in danger”, but not in that extreme of putting it in the list of world heritage danger. 

   Besides, the coral reef is mostly affected by the non renewable energy like the coal energy. The waste of the coal industries are thrown to the ocean and this toxic waste pollutes the water and destroys the biodiversity of the sea. Carbon emissions are impacting reefs is by acidifying the oceans. That impacts corals in a multitude of ways: slowing their growth, deforming tiny corals, weakening their skeletons and hurting other organisms that support the ecosystem. Despite that people and the enviromental groups are helping to improve the problem, day by day, is getting worse the issue.

   But all this can be repared if the industries and we reduce the C02 emissions using more the public transport, throwing less waste to the oceans, buying local products, purchasing green electricity and using renewable energies...

You can see more information about this problem here: http://gulfnews.com/culture/environment/a-fight-to-save-the-great-barrier-reef-1.1812833

Igor Eguen and Xabier Urbieta