SYDNEY, May 26 (Xinhua) -- One of Australia's largest supermarket chains, Coles, has announced a 10 million Australian dollars (about 7.1 million U.S. dollars) investment to help strengthen the regeneration and resilience of the decaying Great Barrier Reef.
The plan, announced on Thursday, would see the establishment of a ten-year "Blue Carbon Partnership", which recognizes and seeks to address the threat climate change has on the UNESCO world heritage site.
"Unlocking Australia's blue carbon potential by investing in projects that support revegetation and regeneration of coastal ecosystems is crucial to preserving the Reef," said Coles CEO Steven Cain.
The scheme would begin with the funding of two projects, one would work with farmers to restore coastal wetlands in the Great Barrier Reef catchment, while the other would develop seagrass nurseries around the reefs to support fish and shellfish and capture additional carbon.
Beyond this, the partnership will fund a number of carbon capture projects that would see carbon dioxide absorbed from the air and stored in coastal ecosystems such as mangroves and tidal marshes.
Rising temperatures have led to increasingly frequent and severe mass bleaching events in the Great Barrier Reef, where persistent high-water temperatures kill off the coral.
A report published earlier this month by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority found that this year 91 percent of all reefs in the Great Barrier Reef were affected by a mass bleaching event.
Chief Scientist of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg said besides tackling climate change, it was also important to develop the best science to make the reefs more resilient.
"In addition to tackling the root cause of climate change, we must make reefs more resilient to the impacts of climate change that are already locked into the system," said Hoegh-Guldberg on Thursday.
"We need the best science to develop bold, innovative ideas to protect coral reef habitats and slow the impacts of climate change, which is the biggest threat to the survival of the Great Barrier Reef." ■