Look beneath the surface, and there are signs of suffering in the Great Barrier Reef

It is a strange time to celebrate the health of coral reefs. There are signs that spiking ocean temperatures are doing substantial damage to reef ecosystems across the tropics and subtropics in a way we are only just getting our heads around.

In Florida, corals are bleaching at an alarming rate and attempts have been launched to rescue them as ocean temperatures in the Florida Keys have reached an extraordinary 38C (101F). There are concerns there may be similar damage in Central America and the Caribbean.

Meanwhile, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef – the world’s biggest and most celebrated coral reef system – does not face the same immediate risk for the simple reason it’s winter in the south. But it has been badly hit in recent years, having suffered through four mass coral bleaching events since 2016. To place that in some context, only two mass bleaching events had been recorded before.

Until recently this was unthinkable. We’ll get into why, after this week’s most urgent climate headlines.

Coral reefs matter. About a quarter of all fish depend on them. They protect coastlines and play a vital role for communities as fisheries and tourist attractions.

The scientific consensus is that the 2,300 kilometre Great Barrier Reef system is in trouble despite some recent welcome gains in fast-growing coral cover. David Wachenfeld, research program director with the Australian Institute of Marine Science, summarised its predicament this week, saying its resilience would be “severely tested” at 1.5C global heating and “really would not be able to withstand much more than 2C”.

This is consistent with the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which projected more than 99% of coral reefs would decline if the temperature rise reached that level. We’re already at 1.2C.

You might think this would prompt some caution when the reef is discussed by politicians and media. The reality in Australia has been different. News Corp newspapers and broadcasters and some rightwing MPs have routinely denied or downplayed suggestions the reef is in decline.

That hasn’t been the case with the Labor government, which was elected 15 months ago promising to do more on the climate crisis than the Liberal-National coalition it replaced. Not that that would have been hard. Under prime minister Anthony Albanese, Labor has started to move the country in a better direction, introducing policies and setting an improved – but still not science-aligned – 2030 emissions reduction target. Politics is politics.

Earlier this month, Unesco recommended that the world heritage committee not place the reef on a list of sites in danger of losing their world heritage status. As Graham Readfearn has reported, this had not been guaranteed. A monitoring mission to the reef early last year recommended the reef should be placed on the in-danger list due its worsening plight and relative inaction by the national and Queensland state governments to address global heating, farming pollution and unsustainable fishing.

Unesco’s new advice reverses this recommendation for now. It said the country had taken positive steps on climate and in managing fisheries.

The government was quick to declare this a victory, and to some extent it was. Lobbying plays a big part in world heritage decision making. A government statement said Unesco’s position showed it was “working hard to protect the reef, and that the rest of the world has taken notice”. Albanese (pictured above) and the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, held a celebratory press conference, talking up how good it was for the more than 60,000 people who rely on the reef for work.

Missing from the response was an acknowledgment that this was only a short-term political win. Unesco had also stressed that the reef remained under serious threat, and said it wanted the government to provide a progress report in February before it considered the reef’s listing all over again.

In the 10 days since Unesco’s report two further reality checks have landed. An independent expert panel urged the government to assess how the reef was managed, declaring “business as usual” was no longer an option. And the Australian Institute of Marine Science warned a large marine heatwave this summer – the sort currently wreaking havoc in the north – could wipe out any good news about reef recovery in a matter of months.

This would be terrible news for humans and a huge swathe of marine life. There will be a lot of fingers crossed as the southern summer approaches.

Read more on our oceans:

The good news

The bad news

Profiling an inspiring individual, suggested by Down to Earth readers

Turkish-German journalist Hilal Sezgin decided in the early 2000s to dedicate her writing to veganism, speciesism and animal rights. Although she received a positive response for readers, her writing did not come without professional costs. “I tried to hide my interest in animals for a long time, or at least cover it up among other, more ‘respectable’ issues. There was a big risk of being belittled as ‘animal lover’,” Sezgin says.

However, she adds: “my Muslim parents taught me to see the earth as God’s creation, and animals as our kin”.

In addition to her written work, Sezgin inherited a sheep sanctuary when she moved into the countryside near Lüneberg in 2007. “It looks rather plausible,” she says, “but I have to admit it was never planned this way. Watching them in their present condition was no ethical option. So I stayed, and within a fortnight I had to change from a completely urban, bookish person into someone who could handle new born lambs, feed their mothers, build hay racks, give injections and clean hooves.”

Nominated by reader Cannelle P Klang

If you’d like to nominate a climate hero, email downtoearth@theguardian.com

Each fortnight we demystify a climate concept you’ve heard in the headlines

A distinct group of 39 oceanic states and 18 dependent territories that are uniquely vulnerable to natural disasters and economic shocks. Despite making up less than 1% of the world’s population, they face inordinate climate threats, particularly sea level rise. The UN first recognised their special status at the Rio summit in 1992.

For more Guardian coverage of small island developing states, click here

One image that sums up the week in environmental news

Credit: Ueslei Marcelino, Reuters

This week a rare, pivotal summit of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization, which could see the seven South American member nations devise a “new and ambitious shared agenda” for the Amazon rainforest, kicks off in Belém, Brazil. In this powerful photograph, Ueslei Marcelino captures a march by Indigenous peoples of the Amazon to ensure their voices are heard.

For more of the week’s best environmental pictures, catch up on The Week in Wildlife here