Nearly 50% of tropical coral species are at risk of extinction

Rising ocean temperatures are fueling mass bleaching of coral reefs around the world, putting many species at risk of extinction.

Mass coral bleaching

Nearly 50% of coral species living in warm waters are at risk of extinction , with climate change being the main culprit, according to an updated assessment report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) released on November 13 at the 29th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Bleached coral in the waters off Kohamajima Island, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan - (Photo: Kyodo/VNA).

The updated assessment of the IUCN Red List – the globally recognised catalogue of threatened species – looks at reef-building corals, which live in warm, shallow waters in tropical regions.

The analysis found that 892 reef-building coral species are now considered threatened , representing 44% of all coral species, significantly higher than the more than 30% level in the most recent assessment in 2008.

Accordingly, IUCN called on negotiators at the COP29 Conference to take urgent action to reduce emissions from fossil fuels, as well as prevent global warming.

The oceans absorb about 90% of the excess heat in the atmosphere due to CO2 emissions _and other greenhouse gases.

Rising ocean temperatures are fueling mass bleaching events on coral reefs around the world, threatening ecosystems vital to marine life and the livelihoods of people who depend on them.

Endangered

Bleached coral in the waters off Jeju Island, South Korea - (Photo: Yonhap/VNA).

IUCN Director General Grethel Aguilar stressed that healthy ecosystems like coral reefs are essential to human livelihoods by providing food, protecting coastlines and storing carbon. Climate change remains the top threat to reef-building corals and is devastating the natural systems on which humans depend.

Besides global warming, pollution, disease, overfishing and agricultural runoff also threaten the survival of coral species around the world.

Most reef-building corals are found across the Indo-Pacific region, with Australia's Great Barrier Reef suffering one of its most severe bleaching events on record this year.

The updated IUCN assessment includes the results of a study of Atlantic reef-building corals, published in the journal PLOS One on November 13. The study found that nearly 30 percent, or 23 of 85 Atlantic coral species, are critically endangered, more than previously estimated.

For cold-water corals, the IUCN is still assessing the risk of extinction because these corals live in deeper, darker waters, making research difficult.