Coral killed by climate change

A report based on a 15-year study of changes to coral has concluded that 
in 30 years time much of the Great Barrier Reef will be dead if the 
projected rate of climate change is not halted. Furthermore, in less than a 
lifetime all coral reefs around the world could be devastated by coral 
bleaching, a potentially fatal condition which causes corals to lose their 
colour and turn white.

The report, "Climate Change, Coral Bleaching and the Future of the World's 
Coral Reefs", is by Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, a marine biologist with 
the University of Sydney.

Professor Hoegh-Guldberg found that if global temperatures increase as 
projected by Australia's CSIRO and Germany's Max Plank Institute, coral 
bleaching would increase in frequency and intensity all over the world 
until it occurs annually by 2030 to 2070.

The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change uses these two climate 
projection models from the CSIRO and Max Plank Institute when advising 
governments.

"Coral reefs could be eliminated from most areas of the world by 2100", 
said Professor Hoegh-Guldberg. "Our current understanding of coral 
bleaching suggests that corals are not keeping up with the current rate of 
warming and that they may be the single largest casualty of climate change.

"While they will not become extinct, their health and distribution may be 
severely compromised for at least 500 years unless climate change is 
stopped."

The key findings of the study include:

* Increased sea temperature is the main reason why mass coral bleaching 
occurred with increasing intensity and frequency over the past two decades.

* Globally, coral bleaching events are projected to occur with increasing 
severity and regularity, until they occur every year.

* This heightened level of bleaching is expected to severely degrade reefs 
by around the year 2050.

* The destruction of these fragile ecosystems would cost billions of 
dollars in lost revenue from the tourism and fishing industries, and damage 
coastal regions that are currently protected by coral reefs.

"As global temperatures increase due to increases in greenhouse gases, more 
and more corals will die from coral bleaching", said Erwin Jackson from 
Greenpeace who launched the report.

"We must begin to phase out the causes of global warming — the burning of 
oil, coal and gas — in order to ensure the long-term survival of the Great 
Barrier Reef."