Great Barrier Reef could recover from rapid coral decline if global heating was kept to 2C, study finds

The Great Barrier Reef will undergo “rapid coral decline” until 2050 but could recover if global heating is kept below 2C, according to the most detailed modelling so far of the future of the world’s biggest coral reef.

The finding contradicts a widely held view that the decline of the oceanic gem would become irreversible as global temperatures rise above 1.5C, with one report last month suggesting the world’s tropical corals had already reached a tipping point of long-term decline.

But the scientists warned the latest research showed the reef’s natural abilities to mitigate some rises in temperature would be swamped as global temperatures reach 2C.

Current policies around the world to tackle rising greenhouse gas emissions, caused mostly by burning fossil fuels, has the planet on