Terry Hughes

61 leafy seadragons, 604 Port Jackson sharks: logging the grim tally of death in South Australia’s algal bloom Experts say data reported by beachgoers is ‘hugely useful’ after a slow official response to disaster

“More than 34,000 dead marine animals have been logged (on beaches) – while, of course, far more have gone unobserved.”

The true death toll - silent and unseen - is billions of marine animals and plants.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

New research from The Australia Institute shows that 26 out of Australia’s 37 universities have financial links to fossil fuel companies.

😪

One of three coal exporting ports - on The Best-Managed World-Heritage-listed Coral Reef in the World.

6.0 Final Score and Offset Liability Significant residual impacts will occur to environmental matters from the development of the study area and environmental offsets will likely be required through the State and Commonwealth approvals process. A land-based approach is required for significant residual impacts to MNES and a land-based approach should take precedence for MSES as these can be co-located in a single or multiple offset areas. Any residual MSES not covered by a land-based approach can then be sought through a financial settlement. 6.1 Combination Offset for MSES A land-based offset will primarily be sought for those State prescribed environmental matters where a significant residual impact will occur (Table 27). Any proposed offset area for MNES can also be ground-truthed for those prescribed environmental matters in Table 27. Any residual quantity for those prescribed environmental matter not covered by a land-based option may be sought through the DES web-based financial settlement offset calculator. 6.2 Land-based Offset for MNES A referral and subsequent approval under the EPBC Act is required for significant impacts to MNES. Overlapping significant environmental matters within the study area where a significant impact under the EPBC Act have been identified as likely to occur include Koala and Squatter Pigeon (Southern) habitat (Table 31). Given that significant impacts to MNES will occur within the study area, offsets in accordance with EPBC Act offset policy will be required. Note that there is a minimum of a 90 % land-based offset mechanism required under the EPBC Act offset policy. Multipliers for land area are determined via a number of parameters, many of which are dependent on attributes of a suitable offset land parcel, and will therefore be determined when additional information from the offset strategy is available. Table 31 The quantity and quality of MNES habitat where a significant impact has been identified MNES Quantity impacted (ha) …

Glencore, a company that's expanding a massive coal mine in Queensland, Australia, is going to destroy a massive amount of koala habitat - and plans to buy 'koala offsets' to claim they've undone that damage

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Global Trajectories of the Long-Term Decline of Coral Reef Ecosystems Degradation of coral reef ecosystems began centuries ago, but there is no global summary of the magnitude of change. We compiled records, extending back thousands of years, of the status and trends of...

Tim, you might be interested in this study of shifting baselines on the condition of the Great Barrier Reef. www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1...

The AIMS monitoring program was initiated in response to declines in coral cover in the 1960s and 1970s. Nearshore reefs were excluded from the program because they were already degraded. 20% cover is not “high”.

Climate models since the 1970s nailed it—most predicted global warming almost exactly as it happened.

Official vague statement released in May 2024.

We knew by then that billions of corals were dead or dying due to extreme heat stress in Jan-March. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

The Australian government stayed silent for another 14 months, until after an election & more fossil fuel permits.

🤦🏻‍♂️

'Hope spot' to 'skeletons': Ningaloo's 'catastrophic' event In Western Australia, the damage to coral reefs including the World Heritage-listed Ningaloo has eclipsed any previous bleaching events.

Last week we learned the Great Barrier Reef has suffered some of the worst bleaching in history

This week, Ningaloo, another 🇦🇺 icon is experiencing catastrophic coral loss

These are national treasures. We must take strong action on climate to save them.
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08...

Labor keeps ‘dire’ climate report under wraps The government has delayed the release of a “shocking” assessment of global warming’s effect on the economy, just weeks before its 2035 target decision.

Concerning reports the unreleased National Climate Risk Assessment is “dire” and “diabolical”.

It maps what the people & places we love stand to lose from climate change.

We should know this before the govt sets our 2035 emissions target

Release it now.
www.afr.com/policy/energ...

Companies behind campaign to ‘end plastic waste’ produced 1,000 times more plastic than it cleaned up The Alliance to End Plastic Waste spent five years clearing up the amount of plastic its key oil and chemical members produce in two days

The oil industry's Alliance to End Plastic Waste was created to "change the conversation – away from short-term simplistic bans of plastic," documents reveal

unearthed.greenpeace.org/2024/11/20/a...

‘It was our hope spot’: scientists heartbroken as pristine coral gardens hit by Western Australia’s worst bleaching event Usually alive with colour and fish, Ningaloo reef and the Rowley Showls now look as though they are ‘painted white’ as temperatures rise

You haven’t been paying attention if you’re surprised that Ningaloo Reef is affected (again) by climate change.

“Unprecedented Mass Bleaching and Loss of Coral across 12° of Latitude in Western Australia in 2010–11”. journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

If the Great Barrier Reef had a voice, it would be screaming 😱

Picture shows a 500yr old bleached coral, clinging to life - off Heron island, April 2024.

International ruling highlights Australia’s climate obligations to Pacific neighbours - Law Society Journal A ruling in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has highlighted Australia’s obligation to smaller nations affected by climate change and could open the country...

Enjoyed speaking to Ethan Hamilton @ Law Society Journal about how the ICJ Advisory Opinion on Climate Change will shape Australia’s obligations to our Pacific neighbours, particularly as one of the largest exporters of fossil fuels in the world.

lsj.com.au/articles/int...

The recent ICJ Advisory Opinion on climate has been cited for the first time in a climate litigation case in South Africa, challenging the approval of an oil project.

thegreenconnection.org.za/wp-content/u...

Mass mortality of corals throughout the Great Barrier Reef in 2024 has been hidden from the public since late last year, with this exception - published last December:

www.voanews.com/a/surveys-sh...

Law Society Journal: “The appointment of envoys might appear to the cynical as reactionary measures to public demand for action….”

lsj.com.au/articles/the...

Jobs for the ‘voys: MPs caught between Cabinet and backbench The fastest-growing parliamentary jobs are special envoys, who occupy a twilight zone between minister and backbencher. Their responsibilities are vague.

Australia: The political appointment of “Special Envoy to the Great Barrier Reef” has been quietly scrapped.

And nobody actually noticed.

thenightly.com.au/politics/aar...

How researcher visa curbs threaten science careers Anti-immigration sentiment is fuelling a drive to slash international student and worker numbers, but at what cost to researchers and countries leading the charge?

Interesting article on mobility of early career researchers, and the barriers they face. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

″⁣Following the consideration of rigorous scientific and other advice, a proposed decision to approve the North West Shelf gas development has been made”.

Of course, ‘consideration’ actually means ‘dismissal’.

True, you can feed aquarium corals with brine shrimp.

But how do you feed billions of surviving wild corals in an area the size of 70 million football fields?

Global warming transforms coral reef assemblages - Nature Acute heat stress from the extended marine heatwave of 2016 is a potent driver of the transformation of coral assemblages, which affects even the most remote and well-protected reefs of the Great Barr...

Sources:

2016, left - www.nature.com/articles/s41...

2024, right - theconversation.com/worlds-bigge...

AFP fact check: “Pour sauver la Barrière de Corail, le monde doit rapidement réduire les émissions de gaz à effet de serre", appelle moi.

Culling a few starfish won’t climate-proof coral reefs. factuel.afp.com/doc.afp.com....

The image of dying corals comes from Lizard Island in 2016, not 2024.

Here’s a comparison of coral mortality in the northern Great Barrier Reef in 2016 and 2024.

The middle region of the Great Barrier Reef was under-sampled in 2024 surveys - only 3 reefs between Cairns and Townsville. theconversation.com/worlds-bigge...

The media (and annual reports) tend to focus on single catastrophic climate events.

Yes, the 2024 coral bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef was terrible.

But it’s the cumulative impacts of recurring disasters that matters in the longer term.

www.smh.com.au/environment/...

Mike Hudema

Water temperatures around Australia's Great Barrier Reef were the warmest they've been in over 400 years this year, according to new research.

Scientists say the reef is facing "catastrophic damage."

No time to waste. ActOnClimate

“Parts”

So far, 98% of the Great Barrier Reef has experienced coral bleaching at least once in 2016, 2017, 2020’ 2022, 2024 and 2025.

In 2016, 51% of corals died in the northern third of the Reef - an even bigger loss there than in 2024.

www.cell.com/current-biol...