Just as scientists have reported that both of Australia’s two world heritage-listed reefs–Ningaloo on the west coast and the Great Barrier Reef on the east–have suffered significant coral bleaching, the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) and the Biodiversity Council (BC) have launched a report outlining the urgent need for an annual investment of a minimum $340 million to safeguard threatened marine ecosystems.
Scientists on both Australia’s coasts have been monitoring and tracking the heat stress and bleaching extending across thousands of kilometers of marine habitat, which is likely to have been driven by global heating. The federal government’s Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has found low to high levels of bleaching on most reefs.
In addition to being irreplaceable ecosystems, the report, ‘The Cost of Preventing Marine Extinctions’ report, said Australia’s ocean industries currently generate $150 billion each year, with marine environments directly contributing $25 billion to the economy. They support key blue economy sectors such as fisheries, tourism, and coastal protection and collectively sustaining 462,000 jobs nationwide.
Despite their immense ecological and economic value, the report said, marine ecosystems are facing escalating threats due to insufficient conservation funding and increasing environmental pressures. Ninety-five marine species are listed as threatened with extinction under Australian law. Without targeted investment, these species may vanish, leading to severe ecological imbalances and economic repercussions for industries that depend on healthy marine ecosystems.
The report said the Australian Government allocates just 0.1% of its federal budget to conservation efforts. In contrast, 4% of the federal budget is spent on subsidies that potentially harm the environment, exacerbating biodiversity loss and marine degradation.
“Successive governments have committed to preventing extinctions, yet we continue to see marine species declining,” said Biodiversity Council Lead Councillor Professor Brendan Wintle from the University of Melbourne. “Healthy marine ecosystems provide critical benefits, including food security, coastal protection, and carbon storage but current government funding is falling short of what’s required to protect endangered species and sustain these ecosystems.
“We’ve seen the US Endangered Species Act (ESA) successfully recover over 100 species through mandatory recovery funding and transparent public reporting–adopting similar policies in Australia could significantly improve conservation outcomes and prevent further marine species extinctions.”
The report suggests that reallocating a portion of environmentally harmful subsidies without increasing overall government spending offers a cost-neutral way to fund conservation. Aligning policies with Australia’s global biodiversity commitments, such as phasing out harmful subsidies and boosting funding for threatened species recovery, would help reverse biodiversity loss while supporting long-term environmental and economic stability.
“The cost of reversing these declines has never been properly quantified until now,” said Alexia Wellbelove, Threatened Species Campaign Manager, Australian Marine Conservation Society. “Healthy marine environments underpin $150 billion in ocean industries and support hundreds of thousands of jobs. This report provides a clear financial blueprint, showing that an annual investment of $340 million is the minimum required to give our threatened marine species a fighting chance.”
