Threats to the Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is one of the world’s best managed reefs but, like other coral reefs, it faces threats such as:
Climate change
Extreme weather
Declining water quality
Coastal development
Illegal fishing
Crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks.
The Reef is a natural icon under pressure — cumulative impacts from a range of threats over time, scale and duration are diminishing its ability to recover from disturbance.
The long-term protection of the Reef needs both a concerted international effort to reduce global climate change and national, state and local action to build the Reef’s resilience by reducing impacts.
Now, more than ever, a focus on building the resilience by reducing all threats is vital.
Building the Reef’s resilience is central to our work — given the size and complexity of the Reef this involves balancing environmental protection with national, state and community interests.