<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The world's alarm bells are ringing loudly. What follows is a list of really good reasons to despair – and an excellent argument for why you absolutely should not.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The Great Barrier Reef, the shining jewel of Australia's natural beauty, is under "existential threat" from the climate crisis. The reef and others like it around the world have just blown past one huge climate stop sign and at this rate, the next, presumably fatal, milestone could be reached within 10 years.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>All of this and more truly dire phrases — "worst for 400 years", "near-annual bleaching", "reef to rubble" — form part of a new report by dozens of experts warning of a new reality as the planet hits its first climate tipping point.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Catastrophic conditions and dire reef ecosystem changes are no longer a threat on a distant horizon: It's happening now," James Cook University marine biologist Michael Kingsford is quoted as saying.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Your reaction probably falls into one of two camps: we're doomed or she'll be 'right. But there's a third, much more helpful path.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>JCU marine biologist and conservation psychologist Dr Brock Bergseth argues now is the "time for alarm but it's also a time for action".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The alarm bell is ringing," he tells 9news.com.au.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/global-tipping-points-report-the-great-barrier-reef-is-facing-catastrophic-risks-climate-change/cb9b0f0a-f437-4287-9fbc-9a07330fefd8" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"You know, coral reefs are kind of the canary in the coal mine. They're singing right now, right? They're singing and they're telling us that there's dire things happening and we really need to wake up. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"So to me, this is a great opportunity to really, kind of try to push that things are looking bad, but it's not, it's not guaranteed."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He says we could be on the verge of reaching a "social tipping point" beyond which individuals, businesses and governments are essentially forced to act.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It's happened before. Several whale species recovered from near extinction after the world decided their survival was more important than their blubber; Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) ripped a hole in the ozone layer for decades until the world had enough and banned them; green turtles, hunted to the brink of extinction for soup, eggs and pretty shells, were taken off the endangered list just this week.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We are kind of on the verge of what many people would consider a change bigger than the industrial revolution," he said. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"You think about how we as humans have already responded to change. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>" … So to me, like, when people care and when they're connected with meaningful actions that they can do, we can actually really deliver some significant and scalable conservation wins."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><span>World risking systems collapse</span></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>There are even bigger impacts on the horizon to follow the carbon-emissions-driven severe heatwaves, floods, droughts and </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/bushfires-getting-worse-climate-change-state-of-wildfires-report/29571be8-bf7d-4d57-ac46-40529cdeb3fc" rel="" target="" title="bushfires"><span>bushfires</span></a><span> we're already seeing.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>From the Amazon rainforest and reefs to polar ice sheets and ocean currents, climate change risks tipping earth's essential systems off balance and into collapse.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We are rapidly approaching multiple Earth system tipping points that could transform our world, with devastating consequences for people and nature," report co-author Professor Tim Lenton said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The report says warm-water corals such as the Great Barrier Reef and those found in the Caribbean, which are less diverse so less resilient, will be the first systems to go. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Their estimated "tipping point" – 1.2 degrees of warming over pre-industrial levels – is already in the rearview mirror and the authors expect the upper estimate of their resilience – 1.5 degrees – to be passed within 10 years on current emissions trends.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"At the global level, rapid and stringent greenhouse gas mitigation is fundamental to return coral reefs back from the brink," they experts say, while recommending curbing acting on overfishing, curbing agricultural runoff, and regulating coastal development on a local scale.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Unless we return to global mean surface temperatures of 1.2°C (and eventually to at least 1°C) as fast as possible, we will not retain warm-water reefs on our planet at any meaningful scale."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><span>Great Barrier Reef under threat</span></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The GBR could face "critical impacts", "catastrophic bleaching" and a phenomenon scientists call "reef to rubble", all of which are difficult if not impossible to recover from. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Tourism to the reef alone is worth $9.2 billion a year. In the Coral Triangle fringing a host of countries immediately to Australia's north, it's estimated collapse could cause $115.4 billion in losses for tourism and fisheries alone.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We have now pushed (coral reefs) beyond what they can cope with," said Mike Barrett, chief scientific advisor at the World Wildlife Fund UK and co-author of the report. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The impacts will have far-reaching consequences. Coral reefs are an essential habitat for marine species, vital for food security, contribute trillions to the global economy and buffer coastal areas from storms.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>If you care but don't know what to do, Bergseth has two key pieces of advice: pressure your local MP and vote with your wallet to support businesses actively combating climate change.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We're in dire straits right now, but not all hope is lost," he says. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"This is what you can do to make a difference today."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><span>'This grim situation must be a wake-up call'</span></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>One of the tipping points scientists are most concerned about is the </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/a-crucial-system-of-ocean-currents-is-heading-for-a-collapse-that-would-affect-every-person-on-the-planet/a6aa033b-94d4-4956-8a6a-eb28799185e2"><span>potential collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation</span></a><span>, a crucial network of ocean currents.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It would be catastrophic, pushing parts of the world into a deep freeze, heating up others, disrupting monsoon seasons and raising sea levels.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"There is now a risk that collapse could occur within the lifetime of people born and living on the planet today," Wildlife Fund UK chief scientific advisor and report co-author Mike Barrett said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>For Australia, the report says the collapse could make parts of inland and southern Australia even drier and make summers even wetter in the north.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>That could actually boost food production in some areas but the unpredictability would make long-term planning hard.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The authors picked out one other positive, highlighting the "radical global acceleration" of solar power, electric vehicles, batteries and heat pumps, and noting polluting tech is unlikely to return once replaced because the cleaner options are cheaper and better.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Governments gather next month in Brazil for COP30, a particularly important edition of the annual United Nations climate conference because countries are supposed to ramp up their emissions-reduction goals.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"This grim situation must be a wake-up call that unless we act decisively now, we will also lose the Amazon rainforest, the ice sheets and vital ocean currents," Barrett said. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"In that scenario, we would be looking at a truly catastrophic outcome for all humanity."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced last month that the nation would aim to reduce total carbon emissions by 62 per cent to 70 per cent, compared to 2005 levels.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>- Reported with CNN</span></em><span></span></div></div>