People feel ‘powerless’ to protect reef from climate change

Australians are deeply concerned about the impacts of climate change on the Great Barrier Reef but feel there is little they can do to protect it, according to a survey by James Cook University in northern Queensland.

The study suggests that governments need to play a more active role in helping to motivate public engagement in activities to monitor and protect the reef.

More than 4,600 people took part in the survey, which looked at attitudes to climate change before and after mass coral bleaching in 2016 and 2017. The reef is the world’s largest continuous coral reef system, covering more than 2,300km in Queensland’s coastal waters.