World is experiencing a massive episode of coral bleaching due to record ocean temperatures. This decline threatens the survival of coral reefs around the world, including the Great Barrier Reef near Australia.
NOAA estimates that the planet has already lost 30 to 50% of its coral reefs and that these could, without major changes, completely disappear by the end of the century. The temperature of the oceans, which play a key role in regulating the global climate, reached a new absolute record in March, with an average of 21.07°C measured on the surface, excluding areas near the poles. The current bleaching episode is the fourth recorded by NOAA since 1985. The previous ones were observed in 1998, 2010 and 2016. The Red Sea and the South Pacific are also heavily affected, as is the Great barrier reef off the coast of Australia. The consequences of such phenomena are multiple: they affect ocean ecosystems, but also human populations, impacting their food security and local economies, particularly tourism. According to the WWF, around 850 million people around the globe depend on coral reefs for their food, their jobs and even for the protection of coastlines.