9ICRS debate on coral reefs and climate change
Nerilie Abram
nerilie.abram at anu.edu.au
Mon Nov 6 19:46:05 EST 2000
Dear Ove,
We were presenters at the conference in Bali (A9: sea level and A17: proxy
records) and we attended the debate that you hosted on coral reefs and
climate change. We would like to thank you for organising the debate and
would also like to follow up on the response to the question "Does climate
change represent a risk to coral reefs? If so, what are the three most
worrying variables).
The three most worrying variables were recorded during the debate as
temperature rise, CO2 rise and sea level rise. We fully agree that
temperature rise and CO2 rise are serious and potentially devastating
threats to the future of coral reefs, however we firmly believe that sea
level rise is not a threat to coral reefs. Geological evidence in fact
suggests quite the opposite, and under the currently projected rates of
future sea level rise coral reefs around the world should easily be able to
keep pace with sea level rise and would most likely flourish in the new
"accommodation space" provided for reef growth. An example can be observed
on Heron Island, where the construction of a weir resulted in an artificial
and immediate sea level rise on the order of metres and has been
accompanied by a marked increase in coral reef growth. Of course, given the
stresses on reefs by other factors their ability to respond to rising sea
level may not be as great as that preserved in the geological record,
however it is these other factors which need to be addressed as the threats
to the future of coral reefs and not sea level rise. During the debate the
aspect of the future of island nations was used as reason to keep sea level
rise on the list of worrying variables. The vulnerability of many nations
to sea level rise is undisputable and a very serious concern in climate
change debates, however the question being dealt with in this debate is the
threats to coral reefs. Our fear is that if a statement is sent out from
the scientists of the 9ICRS saying that sea level rise is a threat to the
future of coral reefs then this will undermine the scientific merit of the
rest of the statement and may threaten what this debate was meant to
achieve: a call to action to help save the coral reefs of the world.
We would like to suggest that sea level rise be replace with "other
anthropogenic stresses" and that this include factors such as
over-exploitation, land use practises, pollution and even global population
growth. Not only do we believe that these factors are a much more serious
and immediate threat to the future of coral reefs than sea level rise, but
this also provides a number of management avenues which are not available
with the list as it currently stands. Temperature rise, CO2 rise (and also
sea level rise) are issues which need to be dealt with globally and over
very long time frames. Many anthropogenic stresses can be dealt with
locally and have solutions which can be implemented in relatively short
periods of time. We would like to suggest that the statement that is given
by the scientists from 9ICRS lists the three most worrying risks to corals
reefs as 1) temperature rise, 2) CO2 rise and 3) other anthropogenic
stresses, and that it highlights the need for both local and global action
over a range of time scales from immediate to long term.
We would also like to follow up on the suggestion that the questions dealt
with at the debate should be posted on the coral list. We think that this
is an excellent idea and would allow for a broader cross section of
scientists to contribute valuable ideas and perspectives to this important
statement. Thank you again for organising the debate and I hope that it
will result in strong statement which inspires people throughout the world
to help to preserve the world's coral reefs.
Sincerely
Nerilie Abram and Helen McGregor
*************************************************
PhD research students
Research School of Earth Sciences
The Australian National University
Canberra 0200 Australia
Ph +61 2 6249 5177
Ph +61 2 6249 3407
Fax +61 2 6249 3683
nerilie.abram at anu.edu.au
helen.mcgregor at anu.edu.au
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