"Expert": Trace amounts of harmless, invisible, natural atmospheric gas could cause the Great Barrier Reef to be gone in 40 years

Expert warns of reef climate change deadline - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

A Queensland climate change scientist says the world has only another decade to reduce greenhouse gasses to save the Great Barrier Reef.

The director of the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland, Professor Ove Hoegh Guldberg, is addressing a climate change conference in Cairns in the far north today.

Professor Hoegh says coral bleaching events are becoming more frequent because of rising sea temperatures and levels.

He says good management and the low population along the Great Barrier Reef have helped it bounce back in the past, but it could be gone in 40 years if carbon emissions are not reduced.