A large proportion of the world's coral reefs are suffering from climate change and are threatened with extinction. More than 54 percent of all otherwise colorful coral areas in the oceans have been affected by bleaching caused by global warming.
Marine researchers actually only predicted this point for 2030. The current global coral bleaching event is the fourth since records began and the second in ten years. Experts previously warned in 1998, 2010 and 2016. The list of affected regions is long: examples include the well-known Great Barrier Reef in Australia, but also the Seychelles or larger areas of the South Pacific, such as the corals off the Fiji Islands. As global warming continues, "coral bleaching events are becoming more frequent and severe," said Derek Manzello of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The study was published in the journal Climate Change and the Role of Coral Reefs in the Global warming of the Oceans, published by the Royal Society of Chemistry.