Australia's Great Barrier Reef has only a 50 percent chance of survival if global CO2 emissions are not reduced at least 25 percent by 2020, a coalition of Australia's top reef and climate scientists said on Nov. 17. The 13 scientists said even deeper cuts of up to 90 per cent by 2050 would be necessary if the reef were to survive future coral bleaching and coral death caused by rising ocean temperatures. "We've seen the evidence with our own eyes. Climate change is already impacting the Great Barrier Reef," Terry Hughes, director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University, said in a briefing to Australian MPs. Australia, one of the world's biggest CO2 emitters per capita, has only pledged to cut its emissions by 5 per cent from 2000 levels by 2020. (Financial Times, UK)
