Top scientist says Great Barrier Reef climate change threat exaggerated

Brad Ryan, The Cairns Post 25 Nov 09;

ONE of North Queensland's top marine physicists has accused fellow scientists of exaggerating the threat that climate change poses to the Great Barrier Reef.

Speaking to The Cairns Post ahead of a talk on the topic in Townsville last night, James Cook University’s Prof Peter Ridd said global warming could actually be good for the Reef.

And he accused scientists of "pushing particular lines" in a bid to save their jobs and keep their funding flowing.

"There’s a lot of money at stake here," Prof Ridd said.

"Jobs depend on global warming."

Prof Ridd, who teaches oceanography courses at the university, said the health of coral in the northern, warmer parts of the Reef was better than in the southern, cooler parts.

"A moderate rise in temperature of one or two degrees is highly unlikely to have a detrimental impact on the reef," Prof Ridd said.

"Coral, by and large, grows better when it's warmer.

"There's large organisations in science who are pushing particular lines and ... the other side of the argument is not being heard."

Prof Ridd's comments contradict growing evidence pointing to grave climate threats to the reef, and have provoked condemnation from other experts.

"The professor's views are very contrary to the unanimous views in the peer-reviewed literature,'' Janice Lough, a senior Australian Institute of Marine Science climate change researcher, said.

She said major coral bleaching in 1998 and 2002 were caused by heat stress, following water temperatures rises of half a degree in the previous century.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority's Paul Marshall said Prof Ridd's claims did not stack up.

He said coral in warmer waters, such as that in the northern part of the reef, had adapted through thousands of years of evolution, but had not experienced the rapid temperature changes threatened by global warming.

"It gets really frustrating when people come out with these cynical views when there's such a major catastrophe facing us," Dr Marshall said.