smhThe Australian government must act quickly to address global warming in order to protect the Great Barrier Reef, a leading coral scientist says.
Prof Pandolfi and a team of scientists travelled to Papua New Guinea and studied fossilised reefs to determine how often they were hit by major disasters.
The team found that over the 6,000 years recorded in the fossil strata, the reef had been devastated only four times - once every 1,500 years.
"Even if there had been one every 100 years it would have been in stark contrast to what we're seeing today, where we get several of these events per decade in some places around the world," he said.
Prof Pandolfi said the three major factors threatening reefs were over-harvesting of marine resources, pollution from coastal development and global warming.
"I think they are realising the fact the Great Barrier Reef alone generates $6 billion a year in tourism, and that's quite a substantial economic shot in the arm to both Queensland and to the whole country," he said.