Coral reefs in the Indian Ocean – prime tourist attractions as well as environmentally important natural resources – are in severe danger of being wiped out completely in the next 20 years, according to scientists.
The Independent today quotes an expert from the University of Warwick, who makes his warning in the science journal, Nature. He said that some 90% of corals near the surface of the Indian Ocean were killed in 1998 by high sea temperatures, and though some of the coral has recovered, much of it is at high risk of being severely damaged in coming years.
He reportedly told the magazine: “Most corals do not mature until five years old, and five years since the 1998 event most sites have only recovered marginally.” He explained that rising sea temperatures could spell doom for many of the world’s coral reefs: “The warming trend is only a fraction of a degree each year, which is swamped by the annual change. But south of the equator the probability of the temperature rising enough to kill all the corals means they could be wiped out as soon as 2020.”
