Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the planet's largest living structure and a jewel of the natural world, has suffered the steepest coral cover collapse since records began almost four decades ago. Scientists warn that without urgent action, this underwater paradise may be nearing a point of no return.
Once a dazzling mosaic of colour, the reef's northern and southern stretches have been stripped bare by an unprecedented marine heatwave, leaving vast underwater graveyards of bone-white skeletons. The destruction has been fuelled by climate change-driven sea temperatures, powerful tropical cyclones and swarms of coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish.
