Incredible facts
Coral reefs will be the first ecosystem to completely disappear from Earth due to human activity, a leading UN scientist has announced. He said that this event will take place before the end of this century, which means that children who are born now will live in a world without corals.
Experts believe that coral reef ecosystems are likely to disappear this century and this will be humanity's first mass extinction of an entire ecosystem. Professor Peter Sale, who has studied the Great Barrier Reef for the past 20 years at the University of Sydney and leads a team of scientists at the Institute for Water, Environment and health at the UN University, predicted a decline that was mainly due to climate change and ocean acidification, although local activities such as pollution, overfishing and development coastal areas have also been damaged by reefs. In his book “Our Dying Planet”, the scientist warns that in 30-40 years the world will not have reefs that would resemble those that already exist.
The scientist explained that people create a situation in which organisms that create coral reefs become so vulnerable that many of them will die out, while others will be extremely rare.
The importance of coral reefs
Coral reefs are important for the vast diversity of their ecosystems. They contain a quarter of all marine species, despite covering just 0.1 percent of the world's ocean area, and are even more diverse than tropical forests.
Recent studies of the complex and unique chemical composition of coral reefs have found that many compounds used in the medical industry will be lost if such a trend occurs will continue.
Coral reefs also have significant economic value for people as a source of fish resources and as tourist destinations. About 850 million people live within 100 km of reefs, of which nearly 275 million depend on reef ecosystems for food and livelihoods. Bordering reefs also help protect low-lying islands and coastal areas from extreme weather conditions by absorbing waves before they reach vulnerable populations.
How does humanity contribute to the extinction of coral reefs?
Carbon emissions from human activities are one of the main reasons for the predicted decline. Climate change is increasing ocean surface temperatures, which puts corals under enormous stress and leads to bleaching, in which photosynthetic algae depend on creatures that build reefs are disappearing. In their absence, even for several weeks, corals die.
In addition, ocean acidification is taking place. About one-third of the carbon dioxide that is released into the atmosphere is absorbed by the ocean surface, oxidizing shallow waters. Another recently recognized problem in tropical reef systems is an imbalance that makes it increasingly difficult for reef organisms to extract minerals to build their skeletons.
Scientists believe that the disappearance of reefs may precede a broader mass extinction event. Over the past few decades, almost 20 per cent of the world's coral reefs have been lost.