The harmful laundering of the world coral has grown up to include 84% of ocean reefs in the most intense event in registered history, the international coral reef initiative announced on Wednesday.
This is the fourth global laundering event since 1998, and has now exceeded the laundering of 2014-2017 which struck about two thirds of the reefs, said ICRI, a mixture of more than 100 governments, non-governmental organizations and others. And it is not clear when the current crisis, which started in 2023 and is charged to the warming oceans, will end.
“We may never see thermal stress that causes a drop in money laundering below the threshold that triggers a global event,” said Mark Eakin, executive secretary of the International Coral Reef Society and Retirement Coral Surveillance Manager of the Oceanic and Atmospheric National Administration of the United States.
“We look at something that completely changes the face of our planet and the ability of our oceans to support lives and livelihoods,” said Eakin.
Last year was the hottest year on the earth, and a large part of this goes in the oceans. The average annual temperature of the ocean sea surface far from the poles was a record of 20.87 degrees Celsius (69.57 degrees fahrenheit).
It is fatal for corals, which are essential for the production of seafood, tourism and the protection of the coasts of erosion and storms. The coral reefs are sometimes nicknamed the “tropical forests of the sea” because they support high levels of biodiversity – around 25% of all marine species can be found in and around coral reefs.
The coral gets their bright colors from colorful algae that live inside them and are a food source for corals. Prolonged heat releases algae from algae and eject them corals. An austere white skeleton is left behind and the weakened coral is at risk increased to die.
The laundering event was so serious that the Noaa Coral Reef watch program had to add levels on its laundry alert scale to take into account the growing risk of death by Corail.
Efforts are underway to keep and restore coral. A Dutch laboratory has worked with fragments of coral, some of which fired off the coasts of the Seychelles, to propagate them in a zoo so that they can be used one day to repopulate wild coral reefs if necessary. Other projects, including one off Florida, have worked to save corals threatened by high heat and refer them to health before returning to the ocean.
But scientists say that it is essential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that warm the planet, such as carbon dioxide and methane.
“The best way to protect coral reefs is to treat the deep cause of climate change.
“I think people really need to recognize what they are doing … Inaction is the kiss of death for coral reefs,” said Melanie McField, co -president of the Caribbean steering committee for the global network of monitoring coral reefs, a network of scientists that monitors reefs around the world.
The group’s update comes when President Donald Trump has moved aggressively in his second mandate to stimulate fossil fuels and reduce clean energy programs, which, according to him, is necessary for economic growth.
“We have a government at the moment that works very hard to destroy all these ecosystems … The abolition of these protections will have devastating consequences,” said Eakin.
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