News

GBRF Features in Conversation with "World's Most Interesting People" 

Judy Stewart, Managing Director of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation discusses the dire state of the Barrier Reef with miptalk online, highlighting the upcoming  release of a significant research portfolio for the Reef as well as the mobilisation of a new fundraising framework that will bolster the channeling of resources from the corporate sector into research institutions more effectively.

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Early Warning System for Climate Changes on the Great Barrier Reef 

Elephant seals in the Southern Ocean will provide insight to scientists on the impacts of climate change on the Great Barrier Reef. The results will reinforce the value of the Southern Ocean as an early warning system for the corals and other species on the Great Barrier Reef, which are particulary sensitive to even small change in water temperature and pH. The earlier we know what changes are occuring, the more effectively we can respond.

 

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Scientists not "crying wolf" over coral 

The article “Scientists 'crying wolf’ over coral” claimed to have exposed a deep division in the scientific community as to whether climate change poses a threat to the Great Barrier Reef. This is wrong.

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Multimedia

Coral Reefs 101

Whiteout Coral Reefs 101 lecture

Introductory lecture on coral reefs and the threats they face

watch

2011 In Review

2011 Began with some significant challenges for the Great Barrier Reef with flooding and cyclones placing the ecosystem and the communities which depend on it under considerable stress.

These events are a reminder of the importance of the Foundation's research vision Resilient Coral Reefs Successfully Adapting to Climate Change and the Research Portfolio released in late 2010, which seeks to develop and fund important research towards this vision.

Thank you for you contribution towards achieving the following milestones on the path to this vision during 2011.

  • The Foundation and its partners in the transformation eReefs project have successfully completed several major milestones towards the delivery of this important project. Formal announcements will be made in the New Year.
  • Supported by a consortium of partners, the Foundation convened the first in a series of international workshops to fast-track genomics approaches to coral reef adaptation to climate change in October. This workshop brought together experts from the biomedical, agricultural and coral genomics fields to develop a roadmap for the use of genomics in coral reef adaptation.
  • This year's Bommies Award winner was Dr Pim Bongaerts with Deep coral reefs - a lifeline to shallow reefs in the face of climate change, which explores the concept of a deep reefs as refuges for coral as sea temperatures rise under climate change.
  • The CReefs project, funded by the Foundation and BHP Billiton and delivered by the Australian Institute of Marine Science, concluded having collected almost 30,000 smaples, discovered 1200 new species, involved 60 scientists from 25 institutions around the world and 18 BHP Billiton employees.
  • The ZooX Ambassador Program (an engagement program offered to companies investing in research through the Foundation) celebrated the 100th employee attending the Program over the past four years. Over the past four years 116 employees from 7 companies have participated in the Program and delivered 46 workplace sustainability projects back to participating companies.

The Foundation ended the year, bidding farewell to Judy Stewart, the Foundation's Managing Director. We thank Judy for her dedication, commitment and vision over the past 8 years and wish her all the best for the future.

 

Claire Hanratty
Managing Director