The world’s coral reefs could be wiped out by 2050 unless urgent action is taken to stop threats posed to the ‘rainforests of the sea’ by everything from overfishing to climate change, a report warned Wednesday.
– Threats on land, along the coast and in the water are converging in (opbyder samlet set) a perfect storm of threats to reefs, Jane Lubchenco, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), said at launching “the Reefs at Risk Revisited report”.
The report is compiled by a group of more than 20 research and conservation organizations, led by the World Resources Institute (WRI).
It revisits some of the territory explored in the original Reefs at Risk project, published in 1998, but in much greater detail. Over the 13 years intervening, the area at risk of destruction has increased by nearly a third.
The main reason for that change has been a massive increase in damage from exploitative fishing. Altogether, more than half of the world’s reefs are threatened by the ways in which fishermen use them.
These range from simply catching more than nature can replace to the use of extremely damaging fishing methods such as dynamiting fish to stun or kill them – which also blasts coral formations.
In addition, if climate projections turn into reality, then by 2030 roughly half of the world’s reefs will experience bleaching (afblegning) in most years – rising to 95 percent during the 2050s.
Se hele rapporten på http://www.wri.org/publication/reefs-at-risk-revisited
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
