Increasing Temperature, Storms Destroying Caribbean Coral Reefs
By Matt J. Weiss, February 1, 2008 @ 02:00 AM (EST)
Source: Allheadlinenews.com
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said on Wednesday that Caribbean coral reefs have lost up to 80 percent of their cover in the last 50 years, with the greatest damage occurring in 2005.
The finding is contained in a UNESCO report entitled "The Status of Caribbean Coral Reefs after Bleaching and Hurricanes in 2005." UNESCO will launch the report next week to kick off the International Year of the Reef 2008, a worldwide campaign to raise awareness about the value of coral reefs, the threats they face, and how to protect them.
Written by 80 coral reef scientists and managers under the leadership of Clive Wilkinson, director of UNESCO's Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, the report assessed the damage caused to reefs by high temperatures and numerous storms of three years ago in the wider Caribbean; home to over 10 percent of world's reefs.
According to the report, 2005 saw massive coral losses through severe bleaching. The bleaching affected up to 95 percent of reefs in several islands including the Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Cuba, and the French West Indies. There were also 26 named storms, including 13 hurricanes, that year.
To prevent further loss of the reefs, the report recommended controlling further warming by dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the next 20 years and managing pollution, fishing and damaging coastal developments.
The finding is contained in a UNESCO report entitled "The Status of Caribbean Coral Reefs after Bleaching and Hurricanes in 2005." UNESCO will launch the report next week to kick off the International Year of the Reef 2008, a worldwide campaign to raise awareness about the value of coral reefs, the threats they face, and how to protect them.
Written by 80 coral reef scientists and managers under the leadership of Clive Wilkinson, director of UNESCO's Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, the report assessed the damage caused to reefs by high temperatures and numerous storms of three years ago in the wider Caribbean; home to over 10 percent of world's reefs.
According to the report, 2005 saw massive coral losses through severe bleaching. The bleaching affected up to 95 percent of reefs in several islands including the Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Cuba, and the French West Indies. There were also 26 named storms, including 13 hurricanes, that year.
To prevent further loss of the reefs, the report recommended controlling further warming by dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the next 20 years and managing pollution, fishing and damaging coastal developments.
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