Huge coral reefs could disappear by 2100
TONI O’LOUGHLIN
Two fifths of the planet’s most significant marine environment, a stunning expanse of coral reefs stretching across south-east Asia, has been lost and the rest is likely to disappear by the end of the century, a World Wildlife Fund report warns.
Pollution, over-fishing and climate change are destroying the area known as the Coral Triangle, which covers an area about half the size of the United States and is home to more than 30 per cent of the world’s corals and more than 35 per cent of coral-reef fish — around 3,000 species.
Within this biological wonderland — which spans Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste — are18,500 islands rich in mountain forests and woodlands. The escalation of practices such as deforestation, coastal reclamation, destructive fishing and the pumping of pollution and sewage into sea in the last 40 years has already led to the destruction of about 40 per cent of coral reefs and mangroves in this unique environment.
The threat
If such practices are unchecked, half the species in the Coral Triangle will continue to disappear at a rate of 1-2 per cent a year.
“You don’t have to be a brain surgeon to see that within 40 years we could lose the rest,” said Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, writer of the report and director of the Centre for Marine Studies at the University of Queensland.
Based on a review of more than 300 peer-reviewed scientific studies infields such as biology, economics and fisheries, the report also predicts a dark future for the six nations within the Coral Triangle — and the surrounding area. Of the 150 million people who live across this string of islands, about 100 million depend on the mangroves and sea grass beds for food and building materials.
The reefs, which also support fishing and tourism, are also the nursery for numerous fish species. If carbon emissions continue apace, the region will be struck by increasingly severe drought, typhoons and political unrest.
— Guardian Newspapers Limited 2009
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