Coral Reefs Threatened By Climate Change

By EMILY BEAMENT

Conservation zones for coral reefs are in the wrong place to protect the vulnerable ecosystems from climate change, scientists warned today.

The researchers said new protected areas must be established in the best places to best protect coral reefs – which provide food and livelihoods for millions of people around the world – from global warming.

Climate change poses a major threat to the world’s reefs, with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warning most corals could be hit by “bleaching” or die-offs with a global temperature rise of 2C.

A study led by researchers from Newcastle University and the US- based Wildlife Conservation Society looked at the impact of the mass bleaching in the Indian Ocean in 1998 caused by warming seas.

The research published in the journal PLoS Online, which looked at 66 sites around the Indian Ocean, found coral declined as much or even more in “no-take areas” set up to protect fish as in other areas.

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