THE GREAT BARRIER REEF is one of the planet’s most famous natural wonders, stretching

THE GREAT BARRIER REEF is one of the planet’s most famous natural wonders, stretching across 348,000sq.km and comprised of more than 2900 separate reefs. But disturbing new research reveals it has lost half its coral cover since 1985.

The study from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), published today in the US journal theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provides a dim view of the reef’s future.

“Coral cover on the GBR is consistently declining, and without intervention, it will likely fall to 5 to 10 per cent within the next 10 years,” say the authors of the report. “Without intervention, the GBR may lose the biodiversity and ecological integrity for which it was listed as a World Heritage Area.”