The Australian Prime Minister has pledged to set up a A$1bn (£520m) fund to help protect the ailing Great Barrier Reef if he is re-elected.
Half of the World Heritage Site's northern coral is at risk of being destroyed by mass bleaching, according to scientists, who believe climate change is the main reason for the problem.
Malcolm Turnbull, who is facing a tight re-election battle, said the cash would come from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation's A$10bn (£5.2bn) fund.
The bleaching happens because, as the water warms up, coral is forced to expel living algae which then causes it to calcify and turn white.Slightly bleached coral can recover if the temperature drops, but otherwise it can die.
The money would be invested in clean energy projects and reducing the agricultural and waste water run-off of pollutants such as fertiliser that is diminishing the reef's ability to withstand rising sea temperatures.
"Much of this will come in the form of financing solar energy, which of course will reduce emissions but also enable farmers to manage their land more efficiently," said Mr Turnbull.
Opinion polls have the PM's conservative coalition neck-and-neck with the centre-left Labor opposition, which announced a A$500m (£260m) five-year plan for the reef last month.
The Great Barrier Reef stretches 2,300km (1,430 miles) along Australia's northeast coast and is the world's largest living ecosystem - and attracts about A$5bn (£2.6bn) in tourism each year.
"Our estimate at the moment is that close to 50% of the coral is already dead or dying," said Professor Terry Hughes, of the National Coral Bleaching Taskforce, of the site's northern coral.
The group conducted aerial surveys of the reef and published its report in April.
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