The Coral Triangle
Spanning eastern Indonesia, parts of Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste and the Solomon Islands (see the map), the Coral Triangle is the global center of marine biodiversity and one of the world’s top priorities for marine conservation. This extraordinary expanse of ocean covers an area of 2.3 million square miles (5.7 million km2), the equivalent to half of the entire United States. It is home to over 600 reef-building coral species, or 75% of all species known to science, and more than 3,000 species of reef fish. Over 150 million people live within the Coral Triangle, of which an estimated 2.25 million fishers are dependant on marine resources for their livelihoods. Applying the latest science, The Nature Conservancy is working with a range of partners to protect the coastal and marine ecosystems of this vast area by addressing key threats, such as over-fishing, destructive fishing, and mass coral bleaching.
The importance of coral reefs
Coral reefs are productive and diverse ecosystems that cover a mere 0.2% of the ocean floor, yet support an estimated 25% of all marine life. The global asset value of coral reefs has been estimated at nearly US$800 billion over a 50-year timeframe. More than 500 million people depend upon reef resources, and one billion people worldwide are direct beneficiaries of coral reef goods and services.
Threats to coral reefs
In the landmark report ‘Reefs at Risk in Southeast Asia’, the World Resources Institute estimates that 88% of Southeast Asia’s reefs are threatened. Among the various types of threats, over-fishing and destructive fishing are the most pervasive. Another key threat is the increased frequency of mass coral bleaching events. We only begin to understand the importance of this phenomenon, which is related to climate change.
Over-fishing means that fishers extract more fish than nature can produce over the long term. Besides decreasing the profitability and long-term prospects of the fisheries sector, over-fishing results in the extirpation of highly-valued species such as grouper and Napoleon wrasse. Fisheries experts from Indonesia find that the large majority of Indonesia’s fisheries are over- or fully exploited, which means that any expansion of the fishing fleet is ill-advised. Sadly, over-fishing is exacerbated by perverse subsidies that enable the fishing sector to continue fishing already over-exploited stocks.
Destructive fishing not only contributes to over-fishing, it also destroys the habitat on which exploited fish depend. Blast fishing, either with home-made or industrial explosives, is perhaps the best known example of destructive fishing. Other examples are bottom trawling, fishing with poisons, and fishing with certain kinds of fish traps. The loss of income due to blast fishing in Indonesia over the last 25 years is approximately US$3.8 billion. Global warming is already making a significant impact on marine biodiversity and the lives of those who depend on the reefs for income. A major threat to coral reefs comes from the periodic mass bleaching of corals caused by increased temperatures in the seas. In the 1998 El Nino weather event, 75% of reefs worldwide bleached and 16% died. Coral bleaching is predicted to become an annual event within 25-50 years.
Report warns against Coral Triangle collapse
- Story Highlights
- Southeast Asia's Coral Triangle could disappear by end of the century
- WWF-commissioned report says reef collapse would impact 100 million people
- Report outlines scenarios outlined at World Ocean Conference in Indonesia
document.write(cnnRenderTimeStamp(1242189582666,['May 13, 2009 -- Updated 0439 GMT (1239 HKT)','updated 12:39 a.m. EDT, Wed May 13, 2009'])); updated 12:39 a.m. EDT, Wed May 13, 2009
(CNN) -- Experts have warned that the richly diverse coral reefs of the Coral Triangle around southeast Asia will disappear by the end of the century if action is not taken against climate change.
var CNN_ArticleChanger = new CNN_imageChanger('cnnImgChngr','/2009/TECH/science/05/12/coral.triangle/imgChng/p1-0.init.exclude.html',1,1); //CNN.imageChanger.load('cnnImgChngr','imgChng/p1-0.exclude.html'); As well as the loss of one of the world's most diverse underwater ecosystems, the knock on effect would be the collapse of coastal economies that supports around 100 million people, according to the WWF- commissioned study outlined at the World Ocean Conference this week.
The Coral Triangle includes 30 percent of the world's reefs, 76 percent of global reef building coral species and more than 35 percent of coral reef fish.
However the authors of the study believe that effective global action on climate change and regional attention to problems of over-fishing and pollution would prevent catastrophe.
The report presents two different possible futures for the world's richest marine environment -- the coasts, reefs and seas of the six countries of Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Timor Leste.
"In one world scenario, we continue along our current climate trajectory and do little to protect coastal environments from the onslaught of local threats," said Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg of the University of Queensland in a press statement.
"In this world, people see the biological treasures of the Coral Triangle destroyed over the course of the century by rapid increases in ocean temperature, acidity and sea level, while the resilience of coastal environments also deteriorates under faltering coastal management. Poverty increases, food security plummets, economies suffer, and coastal people migrate increasingly to urban areas."
"Tens of millions of people are forced to move from rural and coastal settings due to loss of homes, food resources and income, putting pressure on regional cities and surrounding developed nations such as Australian and New Zealand."
Even under the best-case scenario, communities will face loss of coral, sea level rises, increased storm activity, severe droughts and reduced food availability from coastal fisheries, the report's authors say.
A key difference, they note, is that communities remain reasonably intact and more resilient in the face of these hardships.
"Effective management of coastal resources through a range of options including marine protected areas, protection of mangroves and seagrass beds and effective management of fisheries would result in a slower decline in these resources," the summary report said.
"World leaders must support Coral Triangle countries in their efforts to protect their most vulnerable communities from rising sea levels and loss of food and livelihoods by helping them to strengthen management of their marine resources and by forging a strong agreement on greenhouse gas reductions at the UN Climate Conference at Copenhagen in December this year," said WWF International Director General James Leape.
|
