Stopping global warming is only way to save Great Barrier Reef, scientists warn

Improvements to water quality or fishing controls don't prevent underwater heatwaves damaging coral, studies of mass bleaching events reveal

The survival of the Great Barrier Reef hinges on urgent moves to cut global warming because nothing else will protect coral from the coming cycle of mass bleaching events, new research has found.

The study of three mass bleaching events on Australian reefs in 1998, 2002 and 2016 found coral was damaged by underwater heatwaves regardless of any local improvements to water quality or fishing controls.