CORAL REEF
Lost coastal ecosystems
Due to warmer and more acidic oceans, rising sea levels, overfishing and other threats, as many as 980,000 hectares of coastal ecosystems — an area larger than New York City — is destroyed each year. What’s worse, the 1-to-4-foot sea-level rise expected by 2100 will only intensify the storm surges and erosion ruining the planet’s coral reefs, shoreline forests and tidal wetlands. As these ecosystems are damaged and lost, island nations and coastal communities are most at risk.
Protectors under siege
Coral reefs are vibrant metropolises under the sea, home to more than 25 percent of known marine species. They also help coastal communities resist storm surges: During major storm events, reefs act as protective shields for vulnerable shorelines. With the ocean continuing to absorb heat and human-generated carbon dioxide at such an alarming rate — and destructive fishing practices running rampant — virtually all coral reefs could be under threat in the next 30 years.
Human impact
One out of every seven human beings on Earth lives in a low-lying coastal region, including approximately 500 million people who rely on food sourced from coral reefs. Each year, coral reefs create an estimated US$ 375 billion in tourism-related jobs, food, shoreline protection, even medicine. In the island waters of Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, the Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste — a region known as the Coral Triangle — these valuable coastal waters provide a living for one-third of the people.
Due to warmer and more acidic oceans, rising sea levels, overfishing and other threats, as many as 980,000 hectares of coastal ecosystems — an area larger than New York City — is destroyed each year. What’s worse, the 1-to-4-foot sea-level rise expected by 2100 will only intensify the storm surges and erosion ruining the planet’s coral reefs, shoreline forests and tidal wetlands. As these ecosystems are damaged and lost, island nations and coastal communities are most at risk.
Protectors under siege
Coral reefs are vibrant metropolises under the sea, home to more than 25 percent of known marine species. They also help coastal communities resist storm surges: During major storm events, reefs act as protective shields for vulnerable shorelines. With the ocean continuing to absorb heat and human-generated carbon dioxide at such an alarming rate — and destructive fishing practices running rampant — virtually all coral reefs could be under threat in the next 30 years.
Human impact
One out of every seven human beings on Earth lives in a low-lying coastal region, including approximately 500 million people who rely on food sourced from coral reefs. Each year, coral reefs create an estimated US$ 375 billion in tourism-related jobs, food, shoreline protection, even medicine. In the island waters of Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, the Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste — a region known as the Coral Triangle — these valuable coastal waters provide a living for one-third of the people.
Source: http://www.conservation.org
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