Greenwire: As rising sea temperatures and ocean acidification threaten the future of the world’s coral reefs, governments worldwide are concerned about political instability resulting from the loss of fish that feed hundreds of millions of people.
About 19 percent of the world’s coral reefs have already been lost — including about half the reefs in the Caribbean — and another 15 percent could die within two decades, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. If the current pace of global warming continues, all coral could disappear within a century, said Kent Carpenter, an Old Dominion University professor who leads a worldwide census of marine species.
“You could argue that a complete collapse of the marine ecosystem would be one of the consequences of losing corals,” Carpenter said. “You’re going to have a tremendous cascade effect for all life in the oceans.”
Losing fish habitats could add to a growing food crisis, turning current staples into a “luxury good,” said Cassandra de Young, a fishery planning analyst at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.
“You already have a billion people who are facing hunger, and this is just going to aggravate the situation,” she said. “We will not be able to maintain food security around the world” (Brian Skoloff, AP/ABC News, March 25). – GN