25 April 2025

Federal election: When it comes to the ocean, where is the contest?

A recent ABC story announced “Federal parties compete on marine protection”. But are they really competing? So far, neither of the two major parties has said anything about ocean protection.

28 June 2024

UNESCO calls on Australia to take more ambitious climate action

It feels like Groundhog day: Another coral bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef, another meeting of the World Heritage Committee to examine Australia’s progress to safeguard our World Heritage-listed icon.

18 April 2024

Scientists confirm a 4th global coral bleaching event

Scientists confirm a fourth global coral bleaching event, the second in the last ten years.

8 March 2024

Top science body warns of worst coral bleaching event in history

The top scientific body that monitors the worlds tropical coral reefs, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has warned that We are literally sitting on the cusp of the worst bleaching event in the history of the planet.

4 August 2023

The terrible reality: Great Barrier Reef on threshold of rapid deterioration

Ten years ago, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority wrote in a submission to the federal government that 1.2C was a key threshold for the Reef. Beyond that, there would be a rapid deterioration in the extent of hard coral cover. The terrible reality is that we are already at 1.1C of global warming right now. The system is on a knife edge. The Australian government must act. And it must stop approving new fossil fuel developments.

2 December 2022

UNESCO calls on Australia to commit to 1.5C limit to protect the Great Barrier Reef

UNESCO has once again raised the alarm about the state of the World Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef.

12 August 2022

The Great Barrier to understanding the Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is a vast and complex ecosystem. Sometimes headline statements about its health can appear confusing and even contradictory.

7 June 2022

The Great Barrier Reef: the ultimate test of an ambitious climate policy

Frances Ambassador to Australia Jean-Pierre Thbault has called the Albanese Governments climate position ambitious. But is it enough for the survival of the Great Barrier Reef?

5 April 2022

International mission to decide on Morrison Government's climate and reef policies

So, is the Morrison Government doing enough to secure the protection of the Great Barrier Reef? The question is almost absurd. The answer is a deafening no.

1 February 2022

Biggest barrier to saving the Reef is a political class in climate denial

The Morrison government is actively supporting new coal mines and massive new gas developments that will overwhelm all other efforts.

23 June 2021

The Great Barrier Reef in danger. But is there a China conspiracy afoot?

The Government deliberately fuelled a conspiracy theory that China must have been involved in the UNESCO report. It is alleged that the Prime Minister's Office backgrounded journalists along these lines for the first 24 hours of the release. The Australian ran a story, China-led 'ambush' on health of the Reef. This was a complete fabrication to deflect from the substance of report.

16 May 2021

Coral Reef Forecast: grim but hope and action will ensure survival

Australia's mish mash of climate policies are consistent with a 2.5 - 3.0C rise in global average temperature compared to pre-industrial levels. That would wipe out all the world's coral reefs, force half a billion people into food insecurity and destroy one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

21 April 2020

IMOGEN ZETHOVEN. The coral bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef continues.

As the novel coronavirus engulfs the worlds attention, the Great Barrier Reef is still suffering from coral bleaching and the government is pursuing a novel approach to its protection, without confronting the main threat.

9 March 2020

IMOGEN ZETHOVEN. After the bushfires comes the bleaching

After a summer of intense heat, drought, bushfires, hailstones and floods, we now have another climate-change driven disaster emerging.

4 December 2019

IMOGEN ZETHOVEN. Judgement Day for the Great Barrier Reef is Looming

Recently I was talking to a political insider in Canberra who told me hed heard on numerous occasions at dinner parties that tragically the Great Barrier Reef is dead.

1 August 2018

IMOGEN ZETHOVEN. The Tourism Industry Calls for Climate Action

Its not hard to find bad news about the Great Barrier Reef but amongst the grim reports, there are signs of hope. First the bad news: The Australian Institute of Marine Science recently released its annual findings on the state of the Great Barrier Reef. Hard coral cover has shown a steep decline throughout the Marine Park. The loss of coral in all three regions (northern, central, southern) of the Park is unprecedented. Many reefs now have very low coral cover. The geographic scale of recent bleaching means that breeding populations of corals have been decimated over large areas.

1 June 2018

IMOGEN ZETHOVEN. Outsourcing Reef Protection.

The outsourcing of nearly half a billion dollars of taxpayer funds to an independent Foundation to protect the Great Barrier Reef is unusual by any measure.

7 May 2018

Rescuing the Reef ... again.

There must be a federal election coming as the government has announced a rescue package for the Great Barrier Reef. Like a damsel (fish) in distress, the Reef has experienced many rescue packages. Asearly as the mid-1990s, the federal government introduced the Sugar Coast Environment Rescue Package which aimed to preserve important lowland habitats along the Reef coastline. Governments have been announcing rescue packages ever since.

9 April 2018

IMOGEN ZETHOVEN. Trashing our Global Ocean Leadership.

Australia was once a global leader in marine protection. Today, we have fallen spectacularly from grace. The Commonwealth marine park plans tabled recently in federal Parliament represent a triumph for the oil, gas and fishing industries and a massive backward step for our threatened oceans.