Importance of the Underworld Guardian
by Bonhishikha Ukil
A diver would describe this place as an enticing one with not only its colourful appearance but also with its intricate and detailed architecture. A relief for our eyes and our ‘fin’ny friends. If you got the pun you know who I am talking about. Foundation built on the life of its fellow comrades it is nature’s one of the most unique creations.
Stunning psychedelic wonderlands covering only 0.1% of the ocean floor and home to almost 25% of marine biodiversity(UNEP,2000), for some part of their life, coral reefs form the basis of marine ecosystems. Coral reefs are valued for their economic services and ecosystem. An estimated more than 4.5 billion people around the world depend on the ocean for their primary source of protein with half a billion directly dependent on reefs. It also contributes to an approximately $29.8 billion USD annually to the global economy (International Coral Reef Initiative).
FRAGILE YET THE GUARDIANS
The coral reefs are fragile, unique and sensitive to change yet they are a major contributor to world economy. Coral reefs formed between the surface of land and first few dozen meters from the deep sea they absorb elements coming in from the open sea. They prevent coastal erosion by absorbing wave energy. This also leads to reduced damage in events of hurricanes, cyclones and various other degrees of storms. Coral reefs cancel out 97% of wave strength and save more than 200 million people. Building a sea-wall with the same protection capability can cost $2.5 million per mile (according to Business Insider). Keeping this in mind the role of coral reefs can be better understood when one realises that they are found along 150,000km of world coastline running across 100 countries and territories. Moreover, people residing along the 8,000 km coastal stretch of India depend on coral reefs for their livelihood (Venkataraman and Alfred, 1998, Venkataraman, 2003), through fishing of fishes dependent on corals, tourism, medicine exploration etc.
A WORLD WITHOUT THE REEFS
Due to the multifaceted benefits coral reefs provide for the above water ecosystem as well a world without coral reef is quite terrifying. To put in Michael Crosby’s words, a marine scientist and the president of Mote Laboratory and Aquarium, USA, “Estimates are that up to 80% of the oxygen you are breathing in right now comes from the ocean. It doesn’t come from the land. In order for you to continue to breathe, you have to have a healthy ocean.”
Human activities & Environmental Degradation
Due to human activities which create the global warming effect and contributor to climate change the temperatures of the earth have been on the rise. Reefs are fragile and sensitive to temperature of water along with the pH which gets affected by it. Increased levels of atmospheric carbon due to burning of fossil fuels catalyses the rise of oceanic temperature. The heat generated in the atmosphere, almost 90% of it absorbed by the ocean making the ocean more acidic with decreased pH levels. The absorption of carbon dioxide is making the ocean more acidic causing “bleaching”. This is making it hard for pH sensitive reefs to survive. The corals lose the component which helps them produce food and gives them colour due to the warm waters which slows their growth all the while making them vulnerable to algae, disease, and death. According to Business Insider’s Kevin Loria, “At present rates, it’s expected that by 2030, 60% of all coral reefs are expected to be highly or critically threatened, and 98% of reefs will be exposed to potentially fatal conditions every year.”
A 2018–2019 heat stress outlook for coral reefs from the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The planet’s largest reef system, the Great Barrier Reef, can be seen listed as ‘Alert Level 1’ off the northeastern coast of Australia. Photo from NOAA, 2018 (https://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/satellite/analyses_guidance/pacific_cbts_ag_20181106.php)
Moreover, overfishing has led to destruction of healthy food chains allowing algae and parasites to overwhelm the coral reefs. Pollution caused due to agricultural and industrial run-offs, major oil spills in sea and ocean floors has also contributed to the death of coral reefs. Some other causes are dragging of anchors and fishing nets which scrape and destroy the reefs. Such destruction of reefs in turn makes the ocean unable to purify its waters from absorbing carbon dioxide from the surface thereby making a ripple effect in the food chain of marine life.
Public Health Crisis
Given the dependency on coral reefs for primary protein by millions, an estimated 1/5th of the world population, a complete extinction can lead to major malnutrition and in severe cases famine in the sea-food dependent communities. A type of sea-slug found among the reefs is an important component in certain cancer fighting compounds. Many studies have also suggested that coral reefs have many components which can be used to develop better medicines than any other land flora or fauna. Scientists believe that since corals are stationary animals they have evolved to protect from predators by developing chemical defences which can be beneficial for creating new medicines. Currently coral reefs are being used to develop new medicines for cancer, arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, etc.
Economic and Societal Instability
Coral reefs are a major attraction for tourism which accounts for $9.6 billion, coastal protection for $9 billion, fisheries for $5.7 billion and biodiversity for $5.5 billion (Cesar, Burke and Pet-Soede, 2003). Economists have estimated that without the coral reefs coastal tourism may see a drop of 9% which accounts for approximately $36 billion. Coral Reefs also act as fish habitats and contribute to almost 10% of fish caught worldwide. To expound, coral reef provided fish caught figures rise to 20–25% in developing countries, and 70–90% in Southeast Asian countries (according to Coral Guardian). A well maintained reef can yield upto 5 and 15 tons of fish, crustaceans, molluscs and other invertebrates per square kilometre. The extinction of the reefs can cause a major economic instability due to loss of jobs in tourism and also in the fishing industry thereby affecting social stability around the world.
IS THERE ANY HOPE?
As stated through the above points the importance of coral reef for humanity and our ecosystem is very significant. The degree of importance and the effects of coral reef depletion vary from country to country and community to community. E.g. Oceania depend on coral reefs more so than other populations who may be further removed from the benefits of reefs (according to Suatoni 2016). However, climate change, global warming and human generated instability looms heavily on the reefs.
The hope and good news lies in the fact that the extinction of coral reefs is not within the next decade but estimated by 2050 keeping the current situation as base. Moreover, scientists across the world are trying to come up with ways to save the coral reefs. Such efforts include identifying reefs which show increasing resilience to the growing acidity of ocean water and regeneration of new reefs at a faster rate to re-populate dying reefs. The efforts have also seen the growing of reefs in a few years which took centuries to grow and replanting of coral larvae in some places after collecting their eggs and sperms.
However, the efforts of few cannot save the reefs completely. If carbon emissions are not reduced and focus is not given to stabilize global climate it’s simply a race against time which would ultimately end with the demise of all coral reefs. As was said by Crosby, consequences from the bleak transformation of a world without reefs could be more severe than most of us can imagine.
