Special session in Bali - Coral Reefs and Climate change

[Ove Hoegh-Guldberg]

Special evening session within the International Coral Reef  Symposium, Bali, 22-27 Oct

"Coral Reefs and Climate change
A chance to discuss and debate 
"

Thursday, 26 October 2000.
Auditorium Room 6
Starts at 8 pm

This exciting evening session should be of considerable interest to a wide group of scientists,
students, managers and others interested in the future of coral reefs.  The principal participants
will mostly be the symposium chairs listed in the table (below).  Each panel member will deliver a
5-7 minute summary of their symposium or research area, particularly as it might relate to coral
reefs and climate change.  The symposium chairs will then form a panel that will lead a discussion
of key questions associated with the debate concerning coral reefs in changing climate. It is hoped
that opinions from the audience will be a centrepiece of the second part of the evening and that
lively debate will develop.

Some of the questions to be addressed are:

a.	Is climate change affecting the world's coral reefs?  If so, how do we know?
b.	Does climate change represent a risk to coral reefs?  If so, what are the three most "worrying"
variables?
b.	Will reefs adapt?  If so, what does it depend on and how would we know if it adaptation was set
to occur?
c.	Are we set for a climate related decline in coral reefs over the next 50 years or is this simply
alarmist rhetoric?
d.	What actions can we, the reef science community, promote in our efforts to (1) better understand
these issues and (2) mitigate the negative effects.

The proceedings of the debate will be recorded and written up as a summary of the state of knowledge
that we currently have on these issues.  It is hoped that this debate will clarify what we know and
don’t know, and will focus the attention on the issues that require addressing in the next four
years of research.  Ove Hoegh-Guldberg (Centre for Marine Studies, University of Queensland) will
mediate the event. The following symposium chairs have agreed to participate (order of
presentation).

Panel member		Symposium or area to be summarized
====================================================================================================
============
Dr. Joanie Kleypas +	Global Climate Change and Coral Reefs, 1. The Science Behind the
Prognostications of Gloom
Dr Chris Langdon

Dr Ben Greenstein +	Lessons from the Past: Reef Palaeoecology and Its Applications
Dr. Mairi M.R. Best

Dr Al Strong		NOAA's on-going coral bleaching and SST program and efforts.  HotSpot accumulations
and
			resultant bleaching

Dr. William Fitt	+	Global Climate Change and Coral Reefs, 2.  Bleaching of Reef Corals and Other
Symbioses
Dr Ove Hoegh-Guldberg

Dr Andrew Baker	Biodiversity, Ecology and Biogeography of Zooxanthellae in Coral- Algal Symbiosis

Dr Piers Larcombe	Coral Reefs in Turbid Environments: Geological and Ecological Significance

Dr Paul Kench		Global Climate Change and Coral Reefs, 4.Coral Reef and Reef Island Response to
Sea-Level Rise.

Dr. Tom Spencer +	Global Climate Change and Coral Reefs, 2.  - Geographic and Ecological
Perspectives
Dr Kristian Teleki

Dr Heidi Schuttenberg	Global Climate Change and Coral Reefs, 3.Coral Bleaching: Assessing and
Linking Ecological and Socio-Economic Impacts, Future Trends and
			Mitigation Planning

Dr. Clive Wilkinson	Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network and Reef Check. Joint Symposium on
Education, Monitoring and Management