Sydney — Australia’s under-pressure Great Barrier Reef is an asset worth A$56bn ($42bn) and as an ecosystem and economic driver is "too big to fail", a study said on Monday. The World Heritage-listed reef is the largest living structure on Earth and its economic and social value was calculated for the first time in the Deloitte Access Economics report commissioned by the Great Barrier Reef Foundation. Using economic modelling, it said the reef — bigger than Britain, Switzerland and the Netherlands combined — was worth A$29bn to tourism, supporting 64,000 jobs. The "indirect or nonuse" value — people who have not yet visited the reef but know it exists — was estimated at A$24bn, with recreational users such as boaters making up the rest. The study, based on six months’ analysis, comes as the reef suffers an unprecedented second consecutive year of coral bleaching due to warming sea temperatures linked to climate change. It is also under pressure from farming run-off, development and ...
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