What Climate Change Will Actually Look Like Where You Live

Australia: Coral Reefs Approaching Their Limits

Australia is experiencing the consequences of rising temperatures both on land and in the surrounding ocean. Record-high sea temperatures have driven widespread coral bleaching along Western Australia’s coast and across the Great Barrier Reef.

Repeated bleaching events leave coral ecosystems with less time to recover. As Professor Ian Lowe has warned, the prospect of the Great Barrier Reef recovering from successive episodes is becoming increasingly unlikely. Under high-warming scenarios, major coral reef systems could die, threatening marine biodiversity, tourism and fishing.

Australia is also facing increasingly destructive combinations of extreme weather. Severe bushfires in Victoria and major flooding in Queensland have demonstrated how different hazards can affect the country within the same season.

By 2050, as many as 1.5 million Australians could live in coastal areas classified as high or very high risk. The Climate Council also warns that extreme fire days could double. For ecosystems already struggling with repeated heat stress, the capacity to recover is becoming increasingly limited.