Unequivocal Action Needed to Avert Mass Marine Extinction

A new report from the International Programme on the State of the Ocean is shockingly serious. Through the combined effects of climate change, overexploitation, pollution, and habitat loss, human activities are at a high risk of causing the next globally significant extinction event in the ocean.

World ocean experts met in England this spring to determine the net effect of current impacts on the ocean and discuss projections for what will happen in the future. After two days of presentations, discussion, and debate, their conclusions were ominous. Not only are we already experiencing severe declines in many species and an unparalleled rate of regional extinctions of certain habitat types, but we now face losing marine species and entire marine ecosystems—including coral reefs—within a single generation.

If we are to avoid this catastrophic outcome, conservation efforts must increase significantly and immediately. We cannot overemphasize the urgency of expanding CORAL's reach to help prevent this disaster.

CORAL's work to build reef resilience to climate change is especially critical at this time. One of the key points leading to the report's dire conclusions is that the resilience of the ocean to climate change impacts is severely compromised by the other stressors from human activities. We need your help to increase the impact of our new worldwide training program, as well as all of the other resilience-boosting work we carry out in our project sites.

 
Please click here to find more ways you can help. Thank you!

To learn more about the report and read the main findings and recommendations, click here.

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