Many Countries 'Unable to Save Reefs'
Editor's note-
More sad news about how climate change is negatively effecting coral reefs.
An international team of scientists has found coral reef conservation in key regions of the world faces serious risk of failure under climate change.
Many countries and communities which are highly dependent on marine harvests or tourism from their coral reefs may be unable to save those reefs from the likely impacts of climate change with their current conservation measures and capacity, the researchers say in an editorial in the journal Conservation Letters.
However the team, led by Tim McClanahan from the Wildlife Conservation Society in Kenya, and Dr Josh Cinner from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University, Australia, also proposes a novel approach that could help societies improve the way they cope with and adapt to changes in the marine environment.
'Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and intensity of extreme climatic events, and will profoundly influence ecosystems and the communities that depend on them – coral bleaching and category-5 cyclones are examples,' Dr Cinner says. 'When the ocean warms it can play havoc, causing entire reefs to die or to take many years to recover.'
'Sustaining coral reefs, along with the goods and services they provide to the people who depend on them, it will require two things – the ability to predict the risk of extreme climate effects, and the ability of the affected human societies to adapt and to change the way they protect and manage their marine environment.'
