The world's ocean coral reefs may face extinction by the end of this century due to increasing carbon dioxide emissions, say wildlife experts.
The emissions will lead to increasingly acidic oceans and warming water temperatures, which will kill the coral reefs in the following decades, warn leading wildlife experts who gathered at a meeting in London.
Coral reef specialists and climate change experts, led by Sir David Attenborough, stressed the urgency for reducing the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere.
The experts warn that concentrations of CO2 have already gone beyond the tipping point for reefs and need to go back to the levels of the 1970's.
They warned that the predicted pace of emissions means a level of 450 parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere will be reached by 2050. This will inturn lead to the extinction of coral reefs, which are highly sensitive to rising levels of carbon dioxide.
Alex Rogers of the Zoological Society of London and the International Programme on the State of the Ocean said that unless the world acts quickly and decisively the damage will become irreversible.
Coral reefs are crucial habitats and provide shelters for fish and other marine life. They cover about 400,000 sq km of tropical ocean floor, and needs regular sunlight and warmer waters.
The emissions will lead to increasingly acidic oceans and warming water temperatures, which will kill the coral reefs in the following decades, warn leading wildlife experts who gathered at a meeting in London.
Coral reef specialists and climate change experts, led by Sir David Attenborough, stressed the urgency for reducing the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere.
The experts warn that concentrations of CO2 have already gone beyond the tipping point for reefs and need to go back to the levels of the 1970's.
They warned that the predicted pace of emissions means a level of 450 parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere will be reached by 2050. This will inturn lead to the extinction of coral reefs, which are highly sensitive to rising levels of carbon dioxide.
Alex Rogers of the Zoological Society of London and the International Programme on the State of the Ocean said that unless the world acts quickly and decisively the damage will become irreversible.
Coral reefs are crucial habitats and provide shelters for fish and other marine life. They cover about 400,000 sq km of tropical ocean floor, and needs regular sunlight and warmer waters.
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