By AFP - Agence France Presse
COP29 - Azerbaijan Almost half of tropical coral species are endangered, report shows
Almost half of all warm-water coral species are threatened with extinction - and climate change is the main culprit, according to a new report released on Wednesday (November 13).
The updated risk assessment by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) was announced at the COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan, which is being ignored by the leaders of many major polluting nations.
The oceans absorb around 90% of the excess heat in the atmosphere due to the release of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
Rising ocean temperatures have triggered mass bleaching events in coral reefs around the world, threatening ecosystems crucial to marine life as well as the livelihoods of the people who depend on them.
The updated assessment of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species looked at reef-building corals, which live in warm, shallow waters in tropical areas.
Its analysis found that 892 species of reef-building corals are now considered threatened, representing 44% of the total.
This represents a significant increase from the last assessment in 2008 when a third of all species were listed as threatened.
The organization is still assessing the risk of extinction of cold-water corals, which live in deeper, darker ocean waters, making them difficult to study.
The IUCN called on negotiators at the COP29 conference to act quickly to reduce fossil fuel emissions that heat the planet.
“Healthy ecosystems such as coral reefs are essential for human livelihoods, providing food, stabilizing coastlines, and storing carbon,” said Grethel Aguilar, head of the IUCN, in a statement.
“Climate change remains the main threat to reef-building corals and is devastating the natural systems on which we depend.”
In addition to global warming, pollution, disease, unsustainable fishing, and agricultural run-off also threaten the world's corals.
Most reef-building corals are found in the Indo-Pacific region, such as Australia's Great Barrier Reef, which suffered one of its worst bleaching events this year.
The updated IUCN assessment included the results of a study on reef-building corals in the Atlantic Ocean, which was published in the journal PLOS One on Wednesday.
This study found that almost one in three - or 23 out of 85 - Atlantic coral species is critically endangered, more than previously thought.
Staghorn coral and elkhorn coral were given as examples of two critically endangered species in the Caribbean that have been hit hard by warming waters, pollution, and hurricanes.
“Without relevant decisions by those who have the power to change this trajectory, we will see even greater loss of reefs and the progressive disappearance of coral species on ever larger scales,” warned David Obura, IUCN coral expert.
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