Coral reefs have exceptional levels of biodiversity and provide important social and ecological services, including food, coastal protection, recreation, tourism, and cultural connections. However, local stressors and climate change are causing a sharp decline in coral reefs and the more than 230 international agreements with coral reef provisions have failed …
Private investment in work to restore the Great Barrier Reef is likely dry up if the Queensland government fails to pass tighter land-clearing laws, warns Australia’s biggest environmental philanthropist. David Thomas, who has donated $30m and bequeathed another $30m to environmental causes in Australia, told Guardian Australia that state and …
A small island, a short boat trip from Timor-Leste’s capital, Dili, appears to have the most biodiverse waters anywhere in the world. There is a push for the site to be protected with a view to developing an ecotourism industry for the country’s struggling economy. Atauro Island sits just 24km …
Overfishing of large and top predatory fishes on Caribbean coral reefs substantially reduces the amount of nutrients stored and recycled within the ecosystem by fishes, new interdisciplinary research published today in Nature Communications concludes. The study, by scientists at the University of Washington, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Smithsonian …
On the floor of a remote island lagoon halfway between Hawaii and Fiji, the giant reef site had been devastated by unusually warm water. Its remains looked like a pile of drab dinner plates tossed into the sea. Research dives in 2009 and 2012 had shown little improvement in the …
Plastics and other debris can harm marine wildlife and can leach harmful chemicals into the ocean. Does that mean your seafood might be carrying these hazards, too? Should you be concerned about plastic and other human debris in your seafood? A study published in the journal Scientific Reports last September …
More than 60% of coral in reefs in the Maldives has been hit by “bleaching” as the world is gripped by record temperatures in 2016, a scientific survey suggests. Bleaching happens when algae that lives in the coral is expelled due to stress caused by extreme and sustained changes in …
Devastated American scientists are probing a sudden, cataclysmic loss of up to half the coral in a section of a Gulf of Mexico marine sanctuary. "To say I'm shocked would be an understatement. I've studied this area for 19 years and I've never seen anything like this," said Emma Hickerson, …
The United Nations has tried to cover up its involvement in the Australian government’s successful attempt to have all mentions of the country removed from a report on climate change and world heritage sites, freedom of information documents show. In May, Unesco published a report with the UN’s environment program, …
An unnamed foreign ship faces prosecution over an oil spill on the Great Barrier Reef after a 12-month investigation by Queensland government agencies. Maritime investigators claim they have identified the vessel that spilled up to 15 tonnes of oil in reef waters off Cape Upstart in July 2015, which washed …
BEIJING: The Chinese city of Sansha has decided to allocate five million yuan (about $748,000) annually for maritime environmental conservation for the next three years. The first round of special environmental funding worth one million yuan ($150,000) was earmarked on Saturday for the exploration of the newly confirmed world's deepest …
MANILA—Protected by their country’s navy, Chinese fishing boats devastated mile upon mile of pristine coral in Philippine waters, using their propellers as blades to hack out giant clams buried in the reefs. Other threatened species that fell prey to Chinese poaching on an industrial scale, with official connivance: turtles, sharks, …
China has set up a 15 million yuan ($2.25 million) environmental protection fund for the South China Sea having already spent double that in the past four years, the Xinhua state news agency said on Monday. The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled this month that China did …
It’s been a wretched year for Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the largest living structure and one of the most complex natural ecosystems on Earth. The area suffered the worst bleaching event ever, one that impacted over 90 percent of the reef and killed more than a third of its corals. …
Data from over 2,500 reefs worldwide is used to identify 15 bright spots—sites where reef biomass is significantly higher than expected—and surveys of local experts in these areas suggest that strong sociocultural institutions and high levels of local engagement are among the factors supporting higher fish biomass.
“Complete ecosystem collapse” is being seen on parts of the Great Barrier Reef, as fish numbers tumble and surviving corals continue to bleach into winter, according to a scientist returning from one of the worst-hit areas. “The lack of fish was the most shocking thing,” said Justin Marshall, of the …
More than 40 square miles (104 square kilometers) of coral reefs—some of the most biodiverse on Earth—have been destroyed by giant clam poaching in the South China Sea, according to a new analysis of satellite imagery. The poachers use boat propellers to loosen the valuable bivalves, which can weigh up …
Diminishing food and water security and ruinous sea level rise are the leading climate change concerns of a section of the American electorate that is aghast at the lack of discussion of global warming during the presidential debate. A Guardian US survey of its readers found that pressure on food …
Climate change and El Niño have caused the worst mangrove die-off in recorded history, stretching along 700km of Australia’s Gulf of Carpentaria, an expert says. The mass die-off coincided with the world’s worst global coral bleaching event, as well as the worst bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef, in …
A hundred kilometres of kelp forests off the western coast of Australia were wiped out by a marine heatwave between 2010 and 2013, a new study has revealed. About 90% of the forests that make up the north-western tip of the Great Southern Reef disappeared over the period, replaced by …
The Great Barrier Reef could be considered again for an “in danger” listing by the United Nations World Heritage Committee following the devastating bleaching this year, the Guardian can reveal. The news came as a group of prominent lawyers, scientists and NGOs wrote to the committee, urging it to ask …
