SYDNEY, March 5 (Xinhua) -- Experts are warning that climate pollution, including more frequent and severe marine heatwaves, is putting the Great Barrier Reef "in grave danger," an Australian climate change organization said on Tuesday.
A severe bleaching event is unfolding across the Great Barrier Reef, with new vision showing the damage that stretches more than 1,100 km from Lizard Island to the Keppel Islands, the Climate Council said in a media release.
Marine heatwaves are bleaching swathes of the Southern Great Barrier reef white, the non-governmental organization said, adding that with an ominous marine forecast for the coming weeks, authorities could declare another mass bleaching event.
"Relentless pollution from coal, oil and gas is Australia's number one environmental problem, and it's literally cooking the Reef," Climate Council CEO Amanda McKenzie was quoted as saying.
"Our environmental protection laws are outdated and in desperate need of an overhaul to prevent new reef-destroying gas and coal projects," she said.
Lesley Hughes, a professor of biology and leading climate change scientist, warned that the Great Barrier Reef is "in grave danger" as ocean temperatures continue to increase.
"The composition and diversity of our once mighty Reef has already been changed after repeated marine heatwaves and mass bleaching events driven by the relentless burning of coal, oil and gas," she said.
"Our focus must be on limiting further harm as much as possible," Hughes said. ■
