Coral Reef Future is Bleak

The Disastrous Future of Coral Reefs

Largely in part to the El Niño phenomenon, increased acidity in the ocean and other environmental factors, coral reefs around the world are severely damaged and require a significant change in our human behaviour to stand any chance of surviving.

Maldives Coral Reef

Why Are Coral Reefs so Special?

An intact coral reef is one of the most impressive things on the earth.  A unique combination of animal, vegetable and mineral, the coral reef is very much a living organism and can be a dazzling display of colourful fish, coral formations and sheer beauty.  The coral reef is actually very similar in nature to a rainforest, and it is equally important to protect.

Can the Coral Reef be Saved?

People often think that the hypotheses surrounding global warming are extreme and pesimistic.  The “it will never happen” attitude is unfortunately all too common.  However, this is not true.  The coral reef is almost unsalvageable.  It appears that of all the endangered ecosystems, the coral reef will  be the first one to be wiped out, before the polar icecaps.

Australian Report on Coral Reef

A recent report from the Australian government warned that the future of the country’s Great Barrier Reef, the largest coral reef in the world, was very bleak and it would be difficult to avoid extreme damage to the coral reef.  Experts now predict that within just a few decades, the coral reefs around the world will die, turning them to mere piles of rubble.  If, or more like when, this happens, about one-third of the planet’s marine life will also die.  Then, as a consequence of the reef dying, other ecosystems will fail, like the mangroves, which are dependent on the reef, and then other land based ecosytems that are dependent on the mangroves will also be doomed.  It is very much a domino effect.

Coral Reef in the Maldives

Coral Reef Annihilation

Experts around the world concur that the future of the coral reefs is a tragic one.  Alex Rogers, an expert in coral at the London Zoological Society believes their “annihilation” is guaranteed.  These experts believe that the damage caused to the coral reef and the future of the reef systems is an indicator of what will happen to the rest of our planet, only the coral reefs will be the first element completely destroyed.

Tropical Coral Reef Systems

While there are corals everywhere in the world, including the cold waters of the North Sea, it is the coral reefs in the tropical waters around the world that the beauty of a coral reef can be truly appreciated.

How does Coral Reef Grow

Much like the symbiotic relationship we have with plants on earth, the corals are mutually dependent on algae.  Algae photosynthesize, using solar energy to create food for the coral.  The coral in return, gives out the carbon dioxide the algae needs to photosynthesize.  The coral secretes calcium carbonate, which it uses to grow its hard outer skeleton.  While it is a hard skeleton, it is very much in peril.  The ocean movement and the fish are constantly wearing down at the coral, eroding it, making it essential that the coral regenerate constantly.  Add human damage to these factors, and the coral just doesn’t stand a chance.  Chemicals entering the water, scuba divers trampling on coral, boats dropping anchor on reefs and severe overfishing around the world, are just some of the factors making life for the coral more challenging every day.

Can the coral be helped?

Environmentalists around the world are working on ways to regenerate coral reef.  Scientists in Japan are farming coral which they later plan to transplant to the damaged Sekisei Lagoon Reef.  They believe the reef can fully recover within 30 years.  Researchers in the Maldives, at the Four Seasons Resort are sending small electronic charges through an underwater cage and stimulating growth this way.  While these solutions may be effective, it is unfortunately a case of “too little, too late.”  The oceans are now so acidic from years of carbon dioxide deposits that it is just impossible to reverse.  The surface waters of the world’s oceans have decreased by approximately 0.1 pH unit.  It doesn’t sound like much, but is a truly devastating change for coral reefs everywhere.

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