Impact of Global Warming on the Coral Life System (Critical Analysis)

P.C. - ICRI

Coral life system harbour the highest biodiversity of any ecosystem globally and directly support over 500 million people worldwide.

However, over the last three years, coral reefs ecosystem around the world have suffered from mass coral bleaching events. They are now among the most threatened ecosystems on Earth, largely due to unprecedented global warming and climate changes, combined with growing local pressures.

Impact of global warming on the coral life system :

• As temperature rises, mass coral bleaching events and infectious disease outbreaks are becoming more frequent. The bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef in 2016 and 2017, for instance, killed around 50% of its corals.
• Bleached corals are likely to experience reduced growth rates, decreased reproductive capacity, increased susceptibility to diseases and elevated mortality rates.
• Ocean acidification, or increased CO2 levels has reduced calcification rates in reef-building and reefassociated organisms, causing their skeletons to become weaker and growth to be impaired.
• Sea level rise may lead to increases in sedimentation for reefs located near land-based sources of sediment. Sedimentation runoff can lead to the smothering of coral.
• Changes in storm patterns, due to climate change, may lead to stronger and more frequent storms that can cause the destruction of coral reefs.
• Changes in coral ecosystem also affect the species that depend on them, such as the fish and invertebrates that rely on live coral for food, shelter, or recruitment habitat.
• Changes in precipitation result in increased runoff of freshwater, sediment, and land-based pollutants contribute to algal blooms and cause murky water conditions that reduce light.
• Altered ocean currents lead to changes in connectivity and temperature regimes that contribute to lack of food for corals and hampers dispersal of coral larvae.
• It is also expected that there will be a gradual decrease in the quantity of marine plants such as phytoplankton in warmer waters, effectively reducing the amount of nutrients available to animals further along the food chain.
• In addition, the collapse of coral life system due to global warming can have direct impacts on tourism, aquaculture, and pharmaceutical industries as well as reduce the overall resilience of coastal communities.

Way forward :

• Limiting global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, addressing local pollution and destructive fishing practices provide chance for the survival of coral life system globally. Also, transformation of mainstream economic systems towards circular economic practices can help in mitigating rising global temperatures.
• According to UNESCO, the coral reefs in all 29 reef-containing World Heritage sites would cease to exist by the end of this century if global warming is not reduced. Reinforcing commitments to the Paris Agreement may be mirrored in all other global agreements such as the Sustainable Development Goals. SDG 13, for instance, calls for urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.