Abstract

In the last thirty years, the Great Barrier Reef has lost about half of its coral cover. Every year the situation in the reef worsens. Corals are increasingly vulnerable, they bleach and lose their colours. They are not able to recover from cyclones as they used to be. In order to gain a better understanding, we talked to two experts: Professor Terry Hughes, director of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, and Dr. Anne Hoggett, who has been living for 24 years in a tropical island in Australia, as the director of the Lizard Island Research Station. They will explain if the time has come to start writing the obituary for one of the most famous natural wonders of the world.