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Rabat – The Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) announced in a report released Tuesday, October 5, that climate change wiped out 14% of the world’s coral reefs between 2009 and 2018, which threatens the vibrant underwater ecosystems if ocean warming persists.
More than 300 scientists compiled the report over 40 years while conducting the largest-ever survey and collecting data from 12,000 sites in 73 countries.
According to the report, the state of the world’s coral reefs in 2020 “offers the most accurate scientific overview of the damage caused by rising temperatures on coral reefs around the world.”
The study observed 10 coral reef-bearing regions around the world and found that reef loss was mainly due to coral bleaching, but also to other local pressures such as overfishing, unsustainable coastal development, and declining water quality.
The world is losing nearly 14% of its coral reefs, which equals 11,700 km2 of destroyed areas mainly located in South Asia and the Pacific, around the Arabian Peninsula, and off the coast of Australia.
“Climate change is the biggest threat to the world’s reefs,” co-author Paul Hardisty, CEO of the Australian Institute of Marine Science, said in a statement.
30% of the world’s coral reefs in East and Southeast Asia were hit less hard by the warming waters, while “some reefs have shown a remarkable ability to bounce back, which offers some hope for the future recovery of degraded reefs,” Hardisty said.
Although reefs cover less than 1% of the ocean floor, they are home to at least a quarter of all marine animals and plants, support jobs, tourism, and fisheries, and are an important source of nutrition and protection from storms and shoreline erosion.
As oceans absorb approximately 90% of the excess heat from greenhouse gas emissions that trap more energy from the sun, the report calls the world to limit greenhouse gases as soon as possible.
The earth’s average surface temperature has already increased by 1.1C and if it reaches 2C, global corals will decrease drastically as heatwaves will more likely push many species of corals past their limits of tolerance.
As global warming trends combine with environmental challenges, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) expects 5 billion people to suffer from inadequate water access by 2050.
