Study: Corals doomed even if global climate goals met

Coral communities usually need at least 10 years to bounce back. Photo: AFP

Coral reefs that anchor a quarter of marine wildlife and the livelihoods of more than half-a-billion people will most likely be wiped out even if global warming is capped within Paris climate goals, researchers said recently.

An average increase of 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels would see more than 99% of the world's coral reefs unable to recover from ever more frequent marine heat waves, they reported in the journal PLOS Climate.

At two degrees of warming, mortality will be 100%, according to the study, which used a new generation of climate models with an unprecedented resolution of one square kilometre.