Reef report sends economic warning

SYDNEY - Australia's under-pressure Great Barrier Reef is an asset worth A$56 billion ($42 billion) 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.

The report said the reef - bigger than the United Kingdom, Switzerland and the Netherlands combined - was worth A$29 billion to tourism, supporting 64,000 jobs.