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Media Release
Courtesy of James Cook University

United approach needed for reef future 

August 15, 2003

Scientific experts have released the most authoritative assessment and outlook to date on the future of the world's coral reefs.

The assessment, featured on today's cover of the prestigious journal Science (August 15th, 2003), identifies human impacts and global climate change as the greatest threats to coral reefs and outlines the challenges and opportunities facing the world's coral reef managers.

The experts, led by James Cook University's Professor Terry Hughes, conclude that existing coral reef management strategies must under go radical change if they are to make a real difference.

The study challenges conventional predictions about the effects of climate change on coral reefs, emphasizing that reefs will change, rather than disappear entirely. The study warns that many of these changes are likely to be detrimental, and cites evidence that degradation of coral reefs due to global warming is already underway, with around 30 per cent of the world's reefs already severely degraded.

"The link between increased greenhouse gases, climate change and regional-scale bleaching of corals, considering dubious by many reef researchers only 10 to 20 years ago, is now incontrovertible," the report says.

"The most pressing impact of climate change is episodes of coral bleaching and disease that have already increased greatly in frequency and magnitude over the past 30 years. "The scientists call for a bold and united approach to coral reef management, urging an increase in No-Take Areas, which help to protect and restore reefs' ability to cope with climate change.

The report, which synthesis's decades of coral reef research, is authored by 17 international researchers from Australia, Europe, and the United States, with an unprecedented breadth of expertise in environmental management, ecology, geology, palaeontology, climatology and economics.

"Existing approaches to protecting reefs must undergo a radical change in emphasis and a substantial expansion in scope if they are to make a real difference," Professor Hughes said.

"Coral reefs provide critically important ecosystem goods and services, and, in a human-dominated world, the economic importance of these goods and services will increase. Management of this valuable resource is crucial," he added.

According to Dr Sean Connolly (JCU), a co-author of the study, "Wealthy countries have an obligation to take the lead in increasing the proportion of reefs that are NTAs (no-take areas), while simultaneously controlling greenhouse-gas emissions.

"Even in affluent countries like the USA and Australia, less than 5%of reefs today are No-Take Areas. "Ecologist and geologist co-author, Professor Jeremy Jackson from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, USA, said over fishing and pollution need to be addressed as global issues.

"The threats to coral reefs from global climate change are greatly magnified by the massive historical impacts on reefs due to over fishing and pollution. We must address all these problems together to achieve success." Professor Jackson said.

Co-author Associate Professor David Bellwood (JCU) said over fishing and pollution had already caused widespread changes in reef ecosystems over the last two centuries: "Over fishing, particularly of herbivorous parrot fishes and surgeon fishes, affects more than just the size of harvestable stocks -it alters the entire dynamics of a reef. Seaweed-eating fishes protect the reef from damaging algal blooms that destroy coral," he said.

The study predicts rapid acceleration in global-scale disruption to coral reefs in the coming decades.

"Projected increases in carbon dioxide and temperature over the next50 years will rapidly exceed the natural conditions under which coral reefs have flourished over the past half million years," Professor Hughes said.

Although reefs of the past have experienced regular disruption through natural climate change cycles, the scientists caution that, in the present, there is a major difference: human activities have profoundly affected reefs' ability to respond to global warming.

Funding for the study was provided by the Queensland Government and James Cook University.

Dr. Sean Connolly of the Centre for Coral Reef Biodiversity, James Cook University will be available for interviews from 6am to 5pm on Friday August 15th.

Please contact him on 07-4781-4242 or mobile: 0439-945-081.

Professor Terry Hughes is available by phone at the First Hotel Reisen, Stockholm, 0011 (46) 8-22 32 60.

For more information or to arrange a photograph, please contact Ms Jill Shields on 07-4781-4586 or 0417-602-359.

1. Dr. Andrew Baird (Coral Ecologist), James Cook University, AUSTRALIA. Ph: 61 (0) 7 4781 4857. Email:
2. Dr. David Bellwood (Fish Ecologist), Director Centre for Coral Reef Biodiversity, James Cook University, AUSTRALIA. Ph: 61 (0) 7 4781 4447. Email: David.bellwood@jcu.edu.au
3. Dr. Margaret Card (Environmental Manager). Environmental Protection Agency, Townsville, AUSTRALIA. Ph: 61 (0) 7 4722 5201. Email: Margaret.card@epa.qld.gov.au
4. Dr. Sean R. Connolly (Ecological Modeller & Marine Ecologist), James Cook University, AUSTRALIA. Ph: 61 (0) 7 4781 4242. Email: sean.connolly@jcu.edu.au
5. Prof. Carl Folke (Ecological Economist), Swedish Academy of Sciences/Stockholm University, SWEDEN. Ph: 46 8 164 248. Email: calle@system.ecology.su.se
6. Prof. Rick Grosberg (Evolutionary Ecologist), University of California, Davis, USA. Ph. 1 530 752 1114. E-mail: rkgrosberg@ucdavis.edu
7. Prof. Ove Hoegh-Guldberg (Coral Physiologist/Ecologist), University of Queensland, AUSTRALIA. Ph: 61 (0) 7 3365 4333. Email: > oveh@uq.edu.au
8. Prof. Terry Hughes (Coral Ecologist), James Cook University, AUSTRALIA. Ph: 61 (0) 7 4781 4222. Email: terry.hughes@jcu.edu.au
9. Prof. Jeremy Jackson (Ecologist and Geologist), Scripps Institution of Oceanography, USA. Ph: 1 619 822 2432. Email: jbjackson@ucsd.edu
10. Dr. Joanie Kleypas (Geologist/Ocean Chemist), National Center for Atmospheric Research, USA. Ph: 1 303 497 1316. Email: kleypas@ncar.ucar.edu
11. Dr. Janice M. Lough (Climatologist), Australian Institute of Marine Science, AUSTRALIA. Ph: 61 (0) 7 4753 4248. Email: j.lough@aims.gov.au
12. Dr. Paul Marshall (Marine Park Manager), Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, AUSTRALIA. Ph: 61 (0) 7 4750 0771. Email: p.marshall@gbrmpa.gov.au
13. Dr. Magnus Nyström (Ecosystems Ecologist), Stockholm University, SWEDEN. Ph: 46 8 161 747. Email: magnusn@system.ecology.su.se
14. Prof. Stephen Palumbi (Evolutionary biologist), Stanford University, USA. Ph: 1 831 655 6210. Email: spalumbi@stanford.edu
15. Dr. John Pandolfi (Coral Reef Paleontologist), Smithsonian Institution, USA. Ph: 1 202 357 2406. Email: Pandolfi.John@nmnh.si.edu
16. Dr. Brian Rosen (Coral Paleontologist/Biogeographer), The Natural History Museum, UK. Ph: 44 20 7942 5584. Email: B.Rosen@nhm.ac.uk
17. Prof. Joan Roughgarden (Ecological Theoretician and Marine Biologist), Stanford University, USA. Ph: 1 650 723 3648.  Email:  rough@rough.stanford.edu.

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