How You Can Help Protect the Great Barrier Reef from Home

Help protect the iconic Great Barrier Reef from wherever you are.

This article is presented in partnership with Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef.

Environmental action is important – but it’s often not easy.

But there’s a way you can be involved in an important campaign to help preserve the iconic Great Barrier Reef from the comfort of your own home, university, dorm room or even from a café.

Thanks to the never-ending wonders of the internet, you can be a part of a life-saving project that’s aiming to help protect and rebuild one of Australia’s greatest natural wonders.

“The unique part of our platform is that we’ve designed citizens into the conservation model, instead out of it.”@citizensGBR has launched an innovative technology to scale up conservation outcomes for the #GreatReefCensus.

More info: https://t.co/LZs1gvidfB

— Oceanographic (@Oceano_mag) May 24, 2023

Enter the Great Reef Census.

Essentially, it’s crowdsourcing collecting key scientific data on the Great Barrier Reef.

Through the Great Reef Census, you’ll be analysing images of the reef, using Artificial Intelligence to label key coral types and provide data on coral cover.

This helps scientists to identify ‘source reefs’ which are key to the regeneration of other coral reefs.

“The Great Reef Census has been central to identifying ‘key source reefs’ — reefs which release large numbers of larvae during the annual mass spawning and play an important role in helping their neighbours recover from damage,” Professor Peter Mumby explained.

“The Census is improving our ability to locate these important sources of coral recovery quickly, so we can better target their resources and ultimately, advance conservation outcomes for the Reef.”

The beautiful Swain Reefs #GreatBarrierReef #GreatReefCensus @citizensGBR @GBRFoundation pic.twitter.com/MliJAy4975

— Peter Mumby (@petemumby) December 11, 2020

When you sign up, you’ll be tasked with identifying and highlighting the different kinds of corals, reef structures and more.

The result? Researchers will have a better understanding of the more than 2900 individual reefs that make up the 2300km system of reefs that make up the largest coral reef in the world.

Signing up is easy and takes less than a minute. You’ll then be on your way to helping one of the most beautiful natural wonders of the world.

The Great Reef Census is a groundbreaking citizen science effort to survey the Great Barrier Reef, helping support #UQ reef science.

Be a part of this important conservation initiative by analysing reef photos on your computer 🪸🐠📸💻

Sign up now: https://t.co/giPxzS4xCk pic.twitter.com/P2WzOnpVKK

— UQ Science (@UQscience) May 17, 2023