Australia’s plan to rescue the beleaguered Great Barrier Reef has been set back at least two decades after the fragile ecosystem suffered its worst-ever bleaching last year, experts said Friday. The vast coral reef―which provides a tourism boon for Australia―is under pressure from agricultural run-off, the crown-of-thorns starfish, development and climate change. Last year’s bleaching killed two-thirds of shallow-water corals in the north of the 2,300-kilometer-long reef, although central and southern areas escaped with less damage.

Setback for the Great Barrier Reef. (2017, February 25). Manila Standard, p. C3.