Coral reefs are being wiped out by climate change

Edie,net: Coral reefs in one of the most diverse areas in the World will be wiped out by the end of the century, according to a report by WWF. The report, launched today at the World's Oceans Conference in Indonesia, shows climate change will destroy the reefs across the Philippines, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Timor Leste.

The region just 1% of the earth's surface has 30% of the world's coral reefs, 76% of its reef building coral species and more than 35% of its coral reef fish species, as well as providing vital spawning grounds for other economically important fish such as tuna.

Around 100 million people rely on the area for their livelihoods. However, it is predicted that due to climate change and overfishing, the capacity of the region's coastal environments to feed people will decline by 80%....

A coral reef of the north coast of East Timor, shot by Nick Hobgood, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License