Nearly half of reef-building coral species living in tropical waters are in danger of extinction, according to a report from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), published Wednesday, November 13.
The organization’s publication of its updated red list of threatened species comes in the midst of climate COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, which the leaders of many major polluting countries have decided not to attend.
Rising human-caused temperatures have led to mass bleaching of coral reefs, threatening ecosystems crucial to marine life and the livelihoods of the people who depend on them.
According to the IUCN, 892 species of reef-building corals, which live in the warm, shallow waters of the tropics, are in danger of extinction. In the last assessment, in 2008, a third of all species combined were threatened. The IUCN is still assessing the risks to corals that live in colder, deeper waters, making them difficult to study.
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Bleaching is a reaction of corals to different sources of stress. In the face of heat, cold, acidification or certain diseases that multiply due to marine pollution, polyps can expel the algae with which they live in symbiosis, which causes them to lose their color. If the episode does not last too long and is not repeated too often, they can survive. But the intensity of global warming is leaving less and less respite for the colonies, which house 25% of underwater biodiversity.
IUCN urges COP29 negotiators to act quickly to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “Healthy ecosystems like coral reefs are essential” to humans, “provide food, stabilize coastlines and store carbon”declared the organization’s executive director, Grethel Aguilar.
“Climate change remains the main threat to reef-building corals.” [ou “madrépores”] and it is devastating the natural systems on which we depend”he said in a press release. Corals are also threatened by pollution, disease and unsustainable fishing.
Most Madrepores are found in the Indo-Pacific region, such as Australia’s Great Reef, which this year suffered one of the worst bleaching events it has ever seen. The updated IUCN Red List includes the results of a study on reef-building corals in the Atlantic Ocean, published Wednesday in the journal PLUS one.
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It is concluded that almost one in three species of this Atlantic coral is in critical danger of extinction, more than previously thought. “Without appropriate decisions by those with the power to change this trajectory, we will see even more reef loss and the gradual disappearance of coral species in increasing proportions”warned David Obura, IUCN coral specialist.
