Climate, Carbon and Coral Reefs

Coral reefs, the “tropical rainforests of the ocean,” are facing unprecedented threats from climate change, including damage from increasingly severe tropical cyclones, bleaching events and ocean acidification. About 20 per cent of the original area of coral reefs has been lost, with a further 25 per cent threatened in the next century. Concerted international action is needed to ensure their long-term survival, according to a new report of the WMO and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.