By improving water quality, Australia hopes to give the Great Barrier Reef ― the largest living structure on Earth ― a better chance of surviving the impacts of climate change. The cost: $6.3 billion (8.2 billion Australian dollars) over the next decade. The majority of the expense ― $4.94 billion ― would go toward reducing by half the sediment runoff from the Fitzroy Basin, the largest river basin flowing into the Great Barrier Reef, by 2025. If the Great Barrier Reef is to have a chance of recovering from the worst-ever bleaching event and survive into the future, Australia must significantly improve water quality by reducing pollution and sedimentation. The cost estimate is more than 10 times what Australia state and federal governments currently spend, The Guardian reports.

Source: Huffington Post August 12, 2016 23:48 UTC