SYDNEY ― The outlook for the iconic Great Barrier Reef was downgraded from “poor” to “very poor” on Friday as the bastion of coral struggles to survive ongoing threats from climate change, the Australian federal agency that oversees the reef said in shocking new findings. The report, published every five years by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, is the first time the government has listed the long-term prospects of the reef so bleakly. The findings directly point to runaway climate change spurred by greenhouse gas emissions as the prime threat to the structure, noting that the time to protect the reef’s “long-term future is now.” “Climate change is escalating and is the most significant threat to the region’s long-term outlook,” the authority said. “Significant global action to address climate change is critical to slowing deterioration of the reef’s ecosystem and heritage values and supporting recovery. ... The significant and large-scale impacts from record-breaking sea surface temperatures have resulted in coral reef habitat transitioning from poor to very poor condition.” The paper is the third released by the country, and the authority has been tracking the reef’s troubles since 2009. Aside from climate change, the report points to other issues facing the reef, including outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish and poor water quality linked to farming runoff.

The Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report has downgraded the health of the reef to 'very poor'. This video explains some of the reasons why this is happening. #GBRpic.twitter.com/JMgTL2tbPO — Australian Academy of Science (@Science_Academy) August 30, 2019

But scientists have long argued that the greatest threat to the reef lies in our warming world. The Great Barrier Reef has been struggling for years after a series of devastating, back-to-back bleaching events in 2016 and 2017 that left vast swaths of the reef damaged or dead. Scientists who visited the reef after those events likened them as an underwater apocalypse that left large stretches of the structure, the largest living thing on the planet, cooked to death. Researchers issued some silver linings at the time, however, urging the world to take action to save the reef before it’s too late. Friday’s findings prompted immediate concern from environmental groups who have long warned that federal action to address the decline of the reef hasn’t gone far enough. “This is now the third Outlook Report. We’ve had 10 years of warnings, 10 years of rising greenhouse emissions and 10 years watching the Reef heading for a catastrophe,” Imogen Zethoven, director of strategy for the Australian Marine Conservation Society, a nonprofit conservation group, said in a statement. “We are seeing the results of government inaction on climate change. This latest report outlines the big threats from warming oceans and poor water quality. Nobody can say they were not warned.”

Credit: Greg Torda/ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies The Great Barrier Reef was hit by devastating, back-to-back bleaching events in 2016 and 2017 that left wide swaths of corals dead.

"Australia can continue to fail on climate policy and remain a major coal exporter or Australia can turn around the Reef’s decline. But it can’t do both. That’s clear from the government’s own scientific reports." - Richard Leck, WWF Head of Oceanshttps://t.co/WQqIniTAMa — WWF_Australia (@WWF_Australia) August 30, 2019