BBC has an article in their “Green Room” environmental section by Rod Salm. He is director of The Nature Conservancy’s Tropical Marine Conservation Programme in Asia Pacific region. He argues that in addition to the widely known and recognised problems that affect coral reefs, such as rising water temperatures, destructive fishing practices, pollution and silt due to bad land-use practices, there is a more serious, and less widely discussed, problem. Global carbon dioxide emissions are at an all-time high, which is implicated in the global warming phenomenon. But the world’s oceans absorb approximately 1/3rd of this CO2, so the amount of CO2 absorbed is also increasing and presumably at an all-time high as well. As a result the oceans are getting more acidic, which will potentially have devastating consequences for coral reefs.
You can see if you agree with his views and his suggestions to mititgate this by reading what he has to say.
