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Most of the World’s Shallow Coral Reefs Could Collapse in the Next 50 Years

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Most of the World’s Shallow Coral Reefs Could Collapse in the Next 50 Years

By 2075, the vast majority of the world’s shallow coral reefs could cease to function as both critical habitat for marine life and a lifeline for hundreds of millions of people who rely on them. 

According to a new assessment by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, 96 percent of the planet’s 127 major warm-water reefs are now classified as critically endangered, primarily due to heat stress induced by climate change. These ecosystems—which people depend on for food, livelihoods and protection from storms and flooding—include the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System in the Caribbean and the Coral Triangle in the western Pacific Ocean.

“They are at extremely high risk of collapse in the next 50 years,” said Mishal Gudka, the assessment’s lead scientist. He is also a research director at CORDIO East Africa—a marine conservation nonprofit based in Kenya—and a research fellow at the University of Melbourne in Australia. 

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