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PRESS RELEASE:
Contact: Dr. Thomas J. Goreau, Ph.D., President, GCRA Global Warming Kills South Pacific Coral Reefs April 16 2002. The Global Coral Reef Alliance announced today that there has been unprecedented coral beaching and mortality due to high temperatures in the South Pacific in the first three months of 2002. Australia, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa, the Cook Islands, French Polynesia, and Galapagos have suffered; with the Great Barrier Reef being one of the worst affected areas. "The coral reefs of the world are now most of the way through being the first ecosystem to undergo mass extinction caused by global warming" said Dr. Thomas J. Goreau, President of the Global Coral Reef Alliance. Recent reports from divers in these areas indicate that almost no corals are left alive, and the speed of their demise has shocked local observers. Their death follows the development of large patches of extremely hot water stretching across the South Pacific starting in January. "Temperatures only 1 degree C above the normal maximum during the warmest month cause large scale coral bleaching, causing corals to turn white and begin to starve. If they stay at this level for two months, or reach 2 degrees above for one month, large scale death from heat stroke results", said Dr. Goreau. "This year many of these areas were more than 2 degrees warmer than normal for more than two months, which results in near total coral death. These conditions are as extreme than those in the worst previous episode, in 1998, which killed corals across the Indian Ocean". He noted that only the Southern Hemisphere has been affected so far this year, but that the Northern Hemisphere could be affected later this year. Dr. Goreau, who pioneered the method of predicting coral bleaching from satellite sea surface temperatures more than 10 years ago, says that this is no surprise. "We warned delegates negotiating the Framework Convention on Climate Change at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 that coral extinction would be the inevitable result of global warming, but no serious efforts were made to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The only reefs in the world that have not already been severely impacted by high temperatures are in the Northern Red Sea and in the North Central Pacific, but it is probably only a matter of time before these are affected too, possibly even this year. As a result we will soon lose almost all growing coral reefs, leaving only impoverished coral communities in marginal habitats where corals grow poorly, such as those affected by upwelling of cold deep waters. Immediate action is needed for over 100 countries to protect reefs and prevent devastating loss of their marine biodiversity, fisheries, tourism, and shore protection from rising sea level, especially the tropical island nations, several of which could vanish entirely". |
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