Australia: Expert warns of reef climate change deadline

Kirsty Nancarrow ABC News 4 Apr 11;

A Queensland climate change scientist says the world has only another decade to reduce greenhouse gasses to save the Great Barrier Reef.

The director of the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland, Professor Ove Hoegh Guldberg, is addressing a climate change conference in Cairns in the far north today.

Professor Hoegh says coral bleaching events are becoming more frequent because of rising sea temperatures and levels.

He says good management and the low population along the Great Barrier Reef have helped it bounce back in the past, but it could be gone in 40 years if carbon emissions are not reduced.

"If we actually act today we can save the Great Barrier Reef and reefs around the world," he said.

"What it'll take is a very concerted global effort to remove these dangerous gasses from the atmosphere."

He says climate modelling shows sea temperatures and ocean acidification will soon rise to levels that cannot sustain coral reefs.

"We're really right at the crossroads right now," he said.

"If we go another 10 years of pumping two parts per million or more CO2 into the atmosphere, we'll pass a point at which we won't be able to constrain further temperature increases and greenhouse gas concentrations that will allow reefs to persist."

10 year window to save reef: expert
AAP Sydney Morning Herald 4 Apr 11;

The Great Barrier Reef will be lost unless there's dramatic action to cut greenhouse gasses over the next 10 years, a climate change scientist warns.

Professor Ove Hoegh Guldberg issued the warning ahead of an address to a major climate change conference starting in Cairns on Monday.

The director of the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland says coral bleaching events are becoming more frequent due to rising sea temperatures and levels.
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He says the Great Barrier Reef could be gone within four decades unless carbon emissions are cut.

"If we actually act today we can save the Great Barrier Reef and reefs around the world," he told the ABC.

But he said it would take a concerted, global effort, with climate modelling showing sea temperatures and ocean acidification would soon rise to levels that could not sustain coral reefs.

"If we go another 10 years of pumping two parts per million or more CO2 into the atmosphere, we'll pass a point at which we won't be able to constrain further temperature increases and greenhouse gas concentrations that will allow reefs to persist," he said.

The Greenhouse 2011 conference will also see the launch of a CSIRO book to help business, government and the community respond to climate change.

The book, which draws on Australian and international research, details climate change impacts that are already apparent in Australia.

It will be launched by CSIRO chief executive Dr Megan Clark.

Reef rescue: We need to change our ways - and fast
Daniel Strudwick The Cairns Post 5 Apr 11;

A LEADING climate change scientist has warned urgent action must be taken this year to protect the Great Barrier Reef from extinction in the next few decades.

Prof Hoegh-Guldberg said the country must switch to cleaner energy sources between now and 2015, after which carbon reduction goals would be out of reach.

The most dire effects wrought by carbon emissions on the Reef were increased water temperature and acidification, resulting in coral bleaching and reduced coral coverage, he said.

“The stuff that we have on the shelf today like wind power and solar energy can be deployed in Queensland at a relatively low cost compared to the cost of doing nothing,” Prof Hoegh-Guldberg said.

“We need to go down this path and we need to go down it quickly.”

Prof Hoegh-Guldberg told the gathering of about 500 scientists and industry personnel that not engaging in international solutions would “hasten the death of something really loved and depended on.”

Prof Hoegh-Guldberg’s presentation at the sixth Greenhouse conference identified the Reef’s irreplaceable contribution to the region’s economy.

And Far North Queensland’s economy – which depends on tourism spending generated largely by the Reef – would bear the worst of the Reef’s extinction.

“It’s the second largest employer in Queensland – that’s about 65,000 jobs and $6.5 billion per year,” Prof Hoegh-Guldberg said.

“The income in Queensland is sustainable but it depends on the Reef.

“And if you kill the Reef, people are going to have less reason to come here.”

He said Australia had fallen behind countries that have already adopted greener energy sources, with coal providing about 85 per cent of the country’s electricity production.

“The rest of the world is starting to do this, and if we get left behind with fossil fuel then it will cost us.

“Fifteen years from now, it will be a no-brainer because fossil fuels will be expensive, renewable energy will be cheap and countries that don’t have it will be stuck with infrastructure burning fossil fuels.

“We can’t continue to be the obstacle that we’ve been in the past.”

Prof Hoegh-Guldberg said ongoing protection would also become more important in the coming decade as the Reef becomes more fragile.

“We need to increase the way we protect our Reef by having a strong park authority and strong fishing regulations.”

But he said those measures would be useless unless atmospheric CO2 was limited to 450ppm – only about 60ppm higher than the current CO2 saturation level.