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20 Percent of Coral Reefs Are Already History

The information was released at the UN Conference in Poznan

Dec 11, 2008 09:28 GMT  ·  By
Bleaching reefs lose their ability to sustain themselves and eventually die
   Bleaching reefs lose their ability to sustain themselves and eventually die

Over the last two decades, some 19 percent of all coral reefs on the face of the planet have disappeared, mostly because of global warming and man-caused pollution. The new survey, detailing these data, was presented on the sidelines of the 190-nation UN Climate Change Conference, currently taking place in Poznan, Poland. The report also warns that, unless global warming is kept to a minimum, the rest of the corals could go extinct within 40 years.

Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network coordinator, Clive Wilkinson, said in a statement that "The report details the strong scientific consensus that climate change must be limited to the absolute minimum. If nothing is done to substantially cut emissions, we could effectively lose coral reefs as we know them, with major coral extinctions."

"If nothing changes, we are looking at a doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide in less than 50 years. As this carbon is absorbed, the oceans will become more acidic, which is seriously damaging a wide range of marine life from corals to plankton communities and from lobsters to sea grasses," International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)'s director for Global Marine Program, Carl Gustaf Lundin, told at a conference.

Julia Marton-Lefevre, director-general of the IUCN confirmed that "The world has lost about 19 percent of its coral reefs during the last 20 years. If current trends in carbon dioxide emission continue, many of the remaining reefs will be lost in the next 20 to 40 years. Climate change must be limited to the absolute minimum if we want to save coral reefs. We need to move forward and substantially cut emissions."

The new warnings are bound to place even more pressure on already delicate climate talks, as representatives from nearly 200 countries struggle to come up with an efficient and sustainable method of cutting back on greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Scientific consensus says that global warming is here to say, regardless of the fact that some people still believe firmly that climate change is just a lie, and that the planet is going to another one of its natural cycles. It's not.