Australia's Great Barrier Reef will lose most of its coral cover by 2050 and, at worst, the world's largest coral system could collapse¹ by 2100 because of global warming, a study released recently said.

The study by Queensland University's Center for Marine² Studies, commissioned by the Worldwide Fund for Nature, said that the destruction of coral on the Great Barrier Reef was inevitable³ due to global warming, regardless of what actions were taken now.

"Under the worst-case scenario⁴, coral populations will collapse by 2100 and the re-establishment of coral reefs will be highly unlikely over the following 200-500 years," said the report entitled "Implications of Climate Change for Australia's Great Barrier Reef."

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest living reef formation stretching 2,000 km north to south along Australia's northeast coast.

"Only if global average temperature change is kept to below two degrees Celsius⁵ can the Reef have any chance of recovering from the predicted damage," the report said.

Coral has a narrow comfort zone and is highly stressed by a temperature rise of less than one degree Celsius.

Water temperature rises of less than one degree coincided with the world's worst recorded coral bleaching⁶ episode in 1988. With bleaching, the warmer water forces out the algae⁷ that give coral its color and, if all are lost, the coral dies and the reef will crumble⁸. In 1988, 16 percent of the world's coral died, with 46 percent of the Indian Ocean coral destroyed.

Scientists project water temperatures to rise this century by between two and six degrees Celsius.

"There is little to no evidence that corals can adapt fast enough to match even the lower projected temperature rise," said the report.

Over-fishing and pollution from coastal⁹ farms were also contributing to the destruction of coral on the Great Barrier Reef.

The Great Barrier Reef supports huge fishing and tourism industries. Even under favorable conditions tourists would only be able to experience real corals in reef "theme parks".