A Queensland Government taskforce says it will cost about $8.2 billion to save the Great Barrier Reef.

The Water Science Taskforce has issued a report that says it would cost $6.46 billion just to fulfil state and federal government promises to UNESCO to halve sediment in the Fitzroy catchment by 2025.

About $1.1 billion will be required to repeat that goal in the Burdekin catchment.

The catchments have been smashed by agricultural polluters.

“This is the result of decades of land clearing, leading to very substantial water course and gully erosion and addressing that is particularly difficult,” Queensland Environment Minister Steven Miles said.

The worst contributors will be targeted first.

“We know that there will be some properties that are delivering much more than the average amount of sediment and other that are delivering less,” Miles said.

“It makes sense to focus the effort on those that are delivering more.”

The full report is accessible here.