Latest news with #InternationalCoralReefInitiative
Forbes
4 days ago
- Health
- Forbes
World Reef Awareness Day 2025: Bringing Corals Back To Life
Coral reefs in the Maldives getty On June 1st, the world celebrated World Reef Awareness Day 2025 under the urgent theme: 'Bringing Corals Back to Life.' This day highlights the indispensable role coral reefs play in sustaining marine life and coastal communities and the existential threats they now face. According to the Coral Reef Alliance, coral reefs, which cover less than 1% of the ocean floor, support approximately 25% of all marine species. Beyond biodiversity, they provide food, livelihoods, and coastal protection for over one billion people globally. However as time progresses, what is notable is that these ecosystems are collapsing. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the ongoing 2023–2025 global coral bleaching event is the most extensive on record. To further give light to the situation, the International Coral Reef Initiative indicated that, bleaching-level heat stress has now impacted 84% of the world's coral reefs, with damage recorded across 82 countries, territories, and economies. For comparison, only 21% of reefs experienced similar stress during the first global bleaching event in 1998, rising to 37% in 2010, and 68% during the prolonged third event between 2014 and 2017. Scientists have already described the current fourth global bleaching event as 'unprecedented' as early as May 2024. In fact, the widely-used Bleaching Alert System had to expand its scale, adding new Levels 3 through 5 to capture the escalating risk. Previously, Level 2 indicated potential mortality for heat-sensitive corals; Level 5 now signals a risk where more than 80% of all corals on a reef could die from sustained bleaching conditions. The World Wildlife Fund article also warns that if current warming trends continue, up to 90% of coral reefs could disappear by 2050. In response, restoration strategies are gaining traction, for example, as reported in Time Magazine, Mars Inc. is making waves in reef rehabilitation. the company has planted over 1.3 million corals in the past 15 years. Leading these efforts is David Smith, the company's chief marine scientist, who ensures that each coral restoration project is grounded in rigorous scientific research. Mars Inc's "reef stars" hexagonal steel structures are seeded with sand and coral fragments has helped Indonesia's Hope Reef rebound from just 2% coral cover to over 70%, with fish populations surging by 260%. Meanwhile, researchers are developing heat-resistant hybrid corals better suited for warming seas, according to National Geographic. Technological solutions are also advancing, according to NOAA, scientists are testing rubble stabilization for the first time in Hawaii's coastal waters as a method of coral restoration, and early results are promising. The technique involves anchoring loose and broken reef fragments to the seafloor, providing a stable foundation for coral regrowth. This process has already helped revive disintegrated reef systems, offering them a renewed chance at recovery. World Reef Awareness Day is more than symbolic as it is a call to urgent action. Without intervention, the planet risks losing one of its most vital ecosystems as a result it is essential to restore them, not only an environmental imperative but essential for future food security, biodiversity, and climate resilience.
NDTV
4 days ago
- Science
- NDTV
In A Hotter Future, What Happens After Coral Reefs Die
The fate of coral reefs has been written with a degree of certainty rare in climate science: at 1.5 degrees Celsius of global warming, most are expected to die. This is not a far-off scenario. Scientists predict that the rise of 1.5 Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) will be reached within a decade and that beyond that point, many corals simply cannot survive. It is important to accept this and ask what next "rather than trying to hold onto the past", said David Obura, chair of IPBES, the UN's expert scientific panel on biodiversity. "I wish it were different," Obura, a Kenyan reef scientist and founding director of CORDIO East Africa, a marine research organisation, told AFP. "We need to be pragmatic about it and ask those questions, and face up to what the likely future will be." And yet, it is a subject few marine scientists care to dwell on. "We are having a hard time imagining that all coral reefs really could die off," said Melanie McField, a Caribbean reef expert, who described a "sort of pre-traumatic stress syndrome" among her colleagues. "But it is likely in the two-degree world we are rapidly accelerating to," McField, founding director of the Healthy Reefs for Healthy People Initiative, told AFP. When stressed in hotter ocean waters, corals expel the microscopic algae that provides their characteristic colour and food source. Without respite, bleached corals slowly starve. At 1.5C of warming relative to pre-industrial times, between 70 and 90 percent of coral reefs are expected to perish, according to the IPCC, the global authority on climate science. At 2C, that number rises to 99 percent. Even with warming as it stands today -- about 1.4C -- mass coral death is occurring, and many scientists believe the global collapse of tropical reefs may already be underway. What comes next Obura said it was not pessimistic to imagine a world without coral reefs, but an urgent question that scientists were "only just starting to grapple with". "I see no reason to not be clear about where we are at this point in time," Obura said. "Let's be honest about that, and deal with the consequences." Rather than disappear completely, coral reefs as they exist today will likely evolve into something very different, marine scientists on four continents told AFP. This would happen as slow-growing hard corals -- the primary reef builders that underpin the ecosystem -- die off, leaving behind white skeletons without living tissue. Gradually, these would be covered by algae and colonised by simpler organisms better able to withstand hotter oceans, like sponges, mussels, and weedy soft corals like sea fans. "There will be less winners than there are losers," said Tom Dallison, a marine scientist and strategic advisor to the International Coral Reef Initiative. These species would dominate this new underwater world. The dead coral beneath -- weakened by ocean acidification, and buffeted by waves and storms -- would erode over time into rubble. "They will still exist, but they will just look very different. It is our responsibility to ensure the services they provide, and those that depend on them, are protected," Dallison said. Dark horizon One quarter of all ocean species live among the world's corals. Smaller, sparser, less biodiverse reefs simply means fewer fish and other marine life. The collapse of reefs threatens in particular the estimated one billion people who rely on them for food, tourism income, and protection from coastal erosion and storms. But if protected and managed properly, these post-coral reefs could still be healthy, productive, attractive ecosystems that provide some economic benefit, said Obura. So far, the picture is fuzzy -- research into this future has been very limited. Stretched resources have been prioritised for protecting coral and exploring novel ways to make reefs more climate resilient. But climate change is not the only thing threatening corals. Tackling pollution, harmful subsidies, overfishing and other drivers of coral demise would give "the remaining places the best possible chance of making it through whatever eventual warming we have", Obura said. Conservation and restoration efforts were "absolutely essential" but alone were like "pushing a really heavy ball up a hill, and that hill is getting steeper", he added. Trying to save coral reefs "is going to be extremely difficult" as long as we keep pouring carbon into the atmosphere, said Jean-Pierre Gattuso, an oceans expert from France's flagship scientific research institute, CNRS. But some coral had developed a level of thermal tolerance, he said, and research into restoring small reef areas with these resilient strains held promise. "How do we work in this space when you have this sort of big dark event on the horizon? It's to make that dark event a little brighter," said Dallison.
France 24
4 days ago
- Science
- France 24
In a hotter future, what comes after coral reefs die?
This is not a far-off scenario. Scientists predict that the rise of 1.5 Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) will be reached within a decade and that beyond that point, many coral simply cannot survive. It is important to accept this and ask what next "rather than trying to hold onto the past", said David Obura, chair of IPBES, the UN's expert scientific panel on biodiversity. "I wish it were different," Obura, a Kenyan reef scientist and founding director of CORDIO East Africa, a marine research organisation, told AFP. "We need to be pragmatic about it and ask those questions, and face up to what the likely future will be." And yet, it is a subject few marine scientists care to dwell on. "We are having a hard time imagining that all coral reefs really could die off," said Melanie McField, a Caribbean reef expert, who described a "sort of pre-traumatic stress syndrome" among her colleagues. "But it is likely in the two-degree world we are rapidly accelerating to," McField, founding director of the Healthy Reefs for Healthy People Initiative, told AFP. When stressed in hotter ocean waters, corals expel the microscopic algae that provides their characteristic colour and food source. Without respite, bleached corals slowly starve. At 1.5C of warming relative to pre-industrial times, between 70 and 90 percent of coral reefs are expected to perish, according to the IPCC, the global authority on climate science. At 2C, that number rises to 99 percent. Even with warming as it stands today -- about 1.4C -- mass coral death is occurring, and many scientists believe the global collapse of tropical reefs may already be underway. What comes next Obura said it was not pessimistic to imagine a world without coral reefs, but an urgent question that scientists were "only just starting to grapple with". "I see no reason to not be clear about where we are at this point in time," Obura said. "Let's be honest about that, and deal with the consequences." Rather than disappear completely, coral reefs as they exist today will likely evolve into something very different, marine scientists on four continents told AFP. This would happen as slow-growing hard corals -- the primary reef builders that underpin the ecosystem -- die off, leaving behind white skeletons without living tissue. Gradually, these would be covered by algae and colonised by simpler organisms better able to withstand hotter oceans, like sponges, mussels, and weedy soft corals like sea fans. "There will be less winners than there are losers," said Tom Dallison, a marine scientist and strategic advisor to the International Coral Reef Initiative. These species would dominate this new underwater world. The dead coral beneath -- weakened by ocean acidification, and buffeted by waves and storms -- would erode over time into rubble. "They will still exist, but they will just look very different. It is our responsibility to ensure the services they provide, and those that depend on them, are protected," Dallison said. Dark horizon One quarter of all ocean species live among the world's corals. Smaller, sparser, less biodiverse reefs simply means fewer fish and other marine life. The collapse of reefs threatens in particular the estimated one billion people who rely on them for food, tourism income, and protection from coastal erosion and storms. But if protected and managed properly, these post-coral reefs could still be healthy, productive, attractive ecosystems that provide some economic benefit, said Obura. So far, the picture is fuzzy -- research into this future has been very limited. Stretched resources have been prioritised for protecting coral and exploring novel ways to make reefs more climate resilient. But climate change is not the only thing threatening corals. Tackling pollution, harmful subsidies, overfishing and other drivers of coral demise would give "the remaining places the best possible chance of making it through whatever eventual warming we have", Obura said. Conservation and restoration efforts were "absolutely essential" but alone were like "pushing a really heavy ball up a hill, and that hill is getting steeper", he added. Trying to save coral reefs "is going to be extremely difficult" as long as we keep pouring carbon into the atmosphere, said Jean-Pierre Gattuso, an oceans expert from France's flagship scientific research institute, CNRS. But some coral had developed a level of thermal tolerance, he said, and research into restoring small reef areas with these resilient strains held promise. "How do we work in this space when you have this sort of big dark event on the horizon? It's to make that dark event a little brighter," said Dallison.
Yomiuri Shimbun
02-05-2025
- Science
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Global Coral Bleaching Crisis Spreads after Hottest Year, Scientists Say
More than four-fifths of the world's coral reef areas have been affected by devastating mass bleaching spurred by record-high ocean temperatures, turning many once-colorful reefs a ghostly pale hue, scientific authorities said on April 23. Bleaching is triggered by anomalies in water temperature that cause corals to expel the colorful algae living in their tissues. Without the algae's help in delivering nutrients to the corals, the corals cannot survive. The world's fourth mass bleaching event, which scientists declared one year ago, has shown few signs of slowing down, according to the International Coral Reef Initiative and data from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration which track reef health. Instead, it has grown to be the most widespread on record, with 84% of reef areas — from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic to the Pacific — subjected to intense heat stress for a duration expected to cause bleaching as of March 2025. Last year was the hottest on record and the first to reach over 1.5 C warmer than preindustrial times, contributing to unprecedented ocean temperatures and triple the previous record number of marine heatwaves around the world. 'The magnitude and extent of the heat stress is shocking,' said Melanie McField, a marine scientist working in the Caribbean. 'Some reefs that had thus far escaped major heat stress and we thought to be somewhat resilient, succumbed to partial mortalities in 2024.' 'Bleaching is always eerie — as if a silent snowfall has descended on the reef,' she added. Previous events in 1998, 2010 and 2014-17 saw 21%, 37% and 68% of reefs subjected to bleaching-level heat stress, respectively. Marine biologists had warned early last year that the world's reefs were on the verge of a mass bleaching following months of record-breaking ocean heat fueled by human-induced climate change and the El Nino climate pattern, which yields unusually warm ocean temperatures along the equator and in the Pacific. In December 2024, a weak La Nina pattern, which typically brings cooler ocean temperatures, gave scientists hope that corals might recover, but it only lasted three months. Instead, the bleaching has continued to spread, said NOAA Coral Reef Watch coordinator Derek Manzello. The Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea were recently added to the list of 82 countries and territories registering bleaching-level heat stress in their waters. It will take scientists years to understand the global extent of coral reef death, but they say they have already observed widespread mortality in parts of the Caribbean, the Red Sea and along Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Coral Reefs Are Bleaching More Than Ever Right Now
Last week, the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI), a global partnership and forum of 100-plus governments, NGOs, and other entities working toward the preservation of the world's coral reefs and their associated ecosystems, announced that it has recorded the worst coral bleaching event on record, with 84% of the world's reefs showing effects. Coral bleaching is a broad term conceived back in 1998 after the phenomenon was first widely noticed—or at least seriously and widely recognized—that essentially describes critically stressed corals, which turn white due to inhospitable changes in temperature and pH level, among other things. The fourth global bleaching event on record since 1998, the current crisis, first announced in 2023, has just seriously outdone the previous event from 2014-2017 and affected about two-thirds of the world's reefs. This current crisis is blamed on the average of ocean temperatures away from the poles, which has seen back-to-back record highs just at or above the 2.7-degree Fahrenheit (1.5-degree-Celsius) 'warming limit' above 'pre-industrial,' or average global ocean temperatures between 1850 and 1900 A.D., as called for by the 2015 Paris World Meteorological Organization (WMO) averaged figures from six international data sets for a composite temperature rise of nearly 2.8 degrees Fahrenheit (1.55 Celsius). This six-piece data set included various government and non-governmental bodies including the NOAA and NASA in the U.S., The E.U.'s Copernicus team, Japan, the U.K., and the privately funded Berkeley Earth, founded by a climate-change skeptic, which calculated the highest of those numbers: 2.9 degrees Fahrenheit (or 1.6 Celsius). 'We're seeing forecasts that temperatures are going to continue to stay high,' Mark Eakin, corresponding secretary for the International Coral Reef Society and retired chief of NOAA's Coral Reef Watch program, told the Associated Press. 'We just may never see the heat stress that causes bleaching dropping below the threshold that triggers a global event, so this may be the last one… We're looking at something that's completely changing the face of our planet and the ability of our oceans to sustain lives and livelihoods,' Eakin added. What's a lowly surf rat left to do in the here and now? Reef-safe sunscreens, alternative surfboard construction, and manual and/or analog paddling of said surfboards may be about the best most of us can offer our great giver, the sea. 'The best way to protect coral reefs,' Eakin puts forth, 'is to address the route cause of climate change, and that means reducing the emissions—the human emissions—that are mostly from the burning of fossil fuels. Everything else is looking like a Band-Aid rather than a solution.' Here's where that thorny, convoluted little term oft-hawked by libertarians and neoliberals, 'better capitalism,' could come into play. Love or hate the ocean and its temperature-dependent multitude of critters, and reject climate change, chaos, crisis, and/or warming all you like. By all means, fellow ocean-goers, continue to vote with those John Wayne dollars as always, but it's up to the nerds whose direction is at the discretion of the energy geezers and geezettes to sort out both us and our beloved reefs, whose wondrous associated peaks, slabs, peelers, and tubes none of us can deny.
