14% of world’s coral reefs are dead in a decade due to climate change: Study

In a single decade, climate change has caused the death of 14 percent of the world’s coral reefs. In the first global study report of the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) since 2008, it reported that the rising ocean temperatures caused by climate change have led to a succession of ‘large-scale bleaching events. This has caused the decline of coral reefs in huge amounts all around the world.

The reports also listed other minor causes such as pollution, over-fishing and construction as the cause for the death of coral reefs. The bleaching events that were caused by the rising temperatures of the oceans were by far the largest contributor to the killing of over 14 percent of the total coral reefs in the oceans.

Over 25 percent of all species living under water on Earth, are supported by coral reefs, which take up only 0.2 percent of the total ocean floor. The entire ocean systems could collapse if the coral reefs went into extinction. The scientists have long warned about the consequences that would be caused by the death of coral reefs.

The GCRMN study report, had drawn its findings based on the data compiled from 73 countries in over 40 years. The studies have found a marked spike in the algae growth on the world’s coral reefs in just ten years.