Coral Reefs Need Global Protection From Climate Change

Coral reefs urgently need protection on a global scale if they are to survive climate change, an international study warned. While existing conservation zones do preserve fish, they are too small and in the wrong places to protect whole marine ecosystems, the study found. Led by scientists at the Wildlife Conservation Society in New York and Newcastle University in England, the team examined 66 Indian Ocean sites in seven countries during a 10-year span and concluded that new zones were needed to protect coral reefs and aid in their recovery. “A major focus needs to be shifted towards increasing the resilience of the system as a whole,” said Newcastle University’s Nick Graham. “What we need to be doing is reducing the direct human impact ”“ such as overfishing, pollution and sedimentation ”“ across the whole area.” Removing these stresses, he noted, gives coral the best chance of surviving temperature increases caused by global warming.