Death of coral reefs would have devastating consequences: researchers warn

The projected widespread loss of coral reefs by 2050 will likely have devastating consequences for millions of people, a new research published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE warned.

Coral reefs around the world are at risk because of manmade carbon emissions, increasing global temperatures and acidification of oceans. A new study by Duke University and the Université de Bretagne Occidentale researchers warned that coral reefs in Western Mexico, Micronesia, parts of Indonesia, Australia and Southeast Asia will be gone by 2050.

As coral reefs are home to a number of marine creatures, they death will result in heavy loss to marine ecosystems. For instance, it will jeopardize fish habitats and adversely affect shoreline protection, which in turn will jeopardize the economic prosperity of humans.

Researchers have warned that loss of coral reefs will have a really damaging effect on the food and tourism industries.

Linwood Pendleton, the chairperson of the European Institute of Marine Studies, suggested, "Some of the places that have the most to lose . . . are also among the biggest carbon emitters. They really have it in their power to bring down the levels of carbon they emit into the atmosphere."

Coastal communities in western Mexico, Australia, Japan and Saudi Arabia, China, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, as well as tiny island nations like Nauru would bear the brunt of the damage.