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Freshwater fish, sharks, rays, endemic plants and iconic mammals are among the country’s fastest-declining species, as invasive species, reduced freshwater flows and pollution intensify. (Wikimedia Commons)

Climate crisis: Coral reefs hit critical tipping point

The world has reached the first of many Earth system tipping points that will cause catastrophic harm unless humanity takes urgent action, report warns

A collage of seaweeds grass and twigs rooted in the sand in the South of Mauritius. Photo : Jacques Achille

Healing the waters: Watching the grass grow in marine ecosystems

Conservationists and a Mauritian fishers roll out a five-year project to replant seagrass — the ‘lungs’ of the ocean

Against the trash tide: GreenKayak is a European NGO and people can paddle for free as long as they collect waste

Having fun while saving the oceans

Activists have pointed out interesting ways that people can learn something new and have an adventure while doing their bit to save the ocean.

Scuba divers dive in the Red Sea waters by a coral reef near Egypt’s resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh at the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula on September 29, 2021. – The Red Sea is home to some 209 different types of coral reefs, according to Egypt’s environment ministry. Healthy corals provide a habitat for more than quarter of marine life, besides shielding the world from natural disasters as storms and floods. But these reefs with their dazzling hues are threatened by rising sea temperatures due to climate change and global warming. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP)

World has lost 14% of its coral reefs to bleaching from global warming

There are also early warning signs of climate change on South Africa’s coral reefs as elevated sea temperatures drive large scale bleaching

New frontier: A variety of species occur in a deep ecosystem. The seafloor is threatened by mining even though there are enough materials on land and through battery recycling. Photo: Alexis Rosenfeld/Getty Images

Deep seabed mining a threat to Africa’s coral reefs

The deep oceans are a fragile final frontier, largely unknown and untouched but mining companies and governments — other than those in Africa — are eying its mineral riches

Global warming and thus increased CO2 is changing the habitat of creatures such as the green turtle. (Gabriel Barathieu/Biosphoto)

We’re dissolving the ocean floor

Carbon dioxide is changing the sea bed and the damage humans will do has not yet been seen

(AFP)

Australia failing to protect Great Barrier Reef ― activists

Experts have warned that deforestation increases runoff into the reef, reducing water quality and the light needed for coral growth

Not able to cope with the unusually warm temperatures due to climate change

Why coral reefs are important and why they are dying

​More than 11 billion pieces of plastic larger than five centimetres wide are littering coral reefs across the Asia-Pacific region

Professor Terry Hughes of James Cook University, who leads the surveys of bleached corals, cautioned that while some damaged coral regain their colour within several months, more badly damaged reefs can take a decade to recover. (AFP)

Coral transplant raises hope over the survival of the Barrier Reef

​Coral bred in one part of the Great Barrier Reef was successfully transplanted into another area in a project that could restore damaged ecosystems

(AFP)

Caribbean coral reefs on the verge of collapse

With less than 10% of the Caribbean’s reefs showing live coral cover, one of the world’s most important ecosystems is in danger of utter devastation.

Coral reefs could be gone by 2050, study warns

The world’s coral reefs could be wiped out by 2050 unless urgent action is taken to stop threats posed to the "rainforests of the sea".

Fight to save the ‘Amazon of the oceans’

With its pleasure boats and tourist restaurants, the Indonesian island of Nusa Lembongan looks little like the edge of a great wilderness.

Resort accused of threatening Malaysia’s top dive spot

An oceanarium resort planned near the world-famous Sipadan diving spot off Malaysian Borneo could spell disaster for the region’s coral reefs.

Pollution slowly killing world’s coral reefs

Dainty blue fish dart around coral shaped like moose antlers near the Mexican resort of Cancun, but sickly brown spots are appearing.