What is the Great Barrier Reef? (444)

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, stretching about 2,300 kilometres along the coast of Queensland in north-eastern Australia. It is made up of more than 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands, covers an area of about 344,400 square kilometres, and is the only living structure on Earth visible from space.

The reef became a marine park in 1975 and was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1981 as one of the most outstanding natural places on the planet. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority manages the reef alongside the Queensland government and Traditional Owner groups, with about 70 Traditional Owner groups holding cultural connections to reef sea country. The reef supports more than 1,500 species of fish, 411 species of hard coral, 30 species of whales and dolphins, six of the world's seven sea turtle species, and an estimated 64,000 jobs through tourism alone.

Climate change is the reef's greatest threat. Mass coral bleaching events caused by warmer ocean temperatures struck the reef in 1998, 2002, 2016, 2017, 2020, 2022, and 2024. The 2016 bleaching killed about 30 per cent of the northern reef's shallow corals. Crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks, agricultural runoff from sugarcane and cattle properties along the Queensland coast, and tropical cyclones add further pressure.

Tourism centred on the reef, especially through Cairns, Port Douglas, the Whitsundays, and Townsville, generates billions of dollars annually for the Queensland economy. UNESCO has repeatedly threatened to list the reef as World Heritage in danger, most recently in 2021 and 2023, prompting successive Australian governments to commit further funding to water quality, predator control, and emissions reductions.