A bleached coral reef in the Maldives. Photo: The Ocean Agency/XL Catlin Seaview Survey
It’s incredible how destructive humans are when we’re striving for comfort. Just by being alive–by living the way we are, by working hard to live better, live more, live freely–we kill just about everything we come in contact with. It’s the Sadim touch. One of the things we’re strangling with our comfort is coral reefs around the globe. A group of concerned scientists and organizations is trying to do something about that. The 50 Reefs Project aims to save fifty of the world’s most important coral reefs. It’s “a global plan to save coral reefs from complete eradication caused by climate change, pollution, and poor fishing practices,” and it launched late in February at The Economist World Ocean Summit in Bali.
Right now, we’re in the middle of the longest coral bleaching event in recorded history. It’s worth noting that coral bleaching is actually a semi-regular occurrence. It happens when warmer currents change the temperature temporarily, but those temperatures don’t usually hang around long enough to kill the corals entirely. As the ocean warms and stays warm, though, some of the earth’s biggest coral reefs are dying: Japan’s largest coral reef is 70 percent dead, reefs around Hawaii are rapidly dying, and recent images of the Great Barrier Reef are about as depressing as a box full of dead puppies. It’s happening because the climate is changing faster than it should be which is happening because we like to slurp up toxic garbage, rear our heads, and vomit it back up towards the sky. It’s happening because, despite the fact that there are other options to be explored, the fat cats with the deep, oil-slicked pockets are the ones driving the bus. The smarter passengers are standing up in their seats and waving proof around while the dumb ones squeeze their eyes shut, cover their ears, and rock back and forth, totally convinced that the driver is doing the right thing. Meanwhile, the driver is laughing maniacally, puffing on a cigar made of old tires, and pissing all over the dumb passengers before stealing their wallets.
The 50 Reefs Project is made up of a few of the world’s leading marine biologists and three philanthropic organizations. Of all the ecosystems on earth, coral reefs are probably the most biologically diverse. According to IFL.com, they contain a quarter of all the species in the ocean, which, one would think, would make us want to ensure they don’t all die. One would think wrong, though, because we’ve done almost nothing about it. “If current trends continue and the world fails to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, then severe bleaching will occur every year on 99 percent of the world’s reefs within the century,” according to Eureka Alert.
Project co-founder Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg isn’t taking it sitting down. “I am optimistic,” he told IFL. “We need to preserve what will survive global warming from other threats because they will be the source of the seeds of the future.”
Before and after photos of coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef’s Lizard Island. Photo: The Ocean Agency/XL Catlin Seaview Survey
Right now, the project is still in its initial stages. Researchers are in the process of identifying fifty reefs that they deem the highest priority. The decision is made after taking “into account the biological richness of candidate reefs, as well as their chance of surviving in a warmer world.”
There’s a catch, though. The earth needs to stop its rapid temperature spike. Once that happens, the coral species that are still alive will start to come back. A few of the old species may still be in aquariums, but, as IFL says, “the best chance to truly conserve the rich complexity of coral reefs is in the oceans.”
Deciding which reefs will be saved isn’t a simple process. Since reef systems are inherently complicated, researchers need to break things down to simple parts. The Great Barrier Reef isn’t actually one single thing; it’s a vast network of interconnected parts. The final selection will be made with what Hoegh-Guldberg called a “robust and transparent algorithm.” Then, parts of each reef will be reseeded and (hopefully) protected from things like overfishing and pollution. All that will take a lot of cash, and that’s where the sponsors come in. Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, and The Tiffany & Co. Foundation all said they’d open their wallets.
Learn more about The 50 Reefs Project on their website.
