[Coral-List] Can coral reefs survive the 21st century?

Szmant, Alina szmanta at uncw.edu
Fri Jul 20 19:11:58 EDT 2012


The question is not just about survival of coral reefs.  If you check out this link http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18825901
You will read an article from the BBC about how most species of lemurs are going extinct (much faster than coral reefs), and one of the major causes is habitat loss due to deforestation for tropical hard woods.  Deforestation (especially of tropical forests) also contributes to global warming, and thus to coral death.  Thus, loss of lemurs is connected to loss of coral reefs, and similar connections can be made for loss of other species and ecosystems (e.g. loss of ice caps and glaciers, which are a major cause of loss of habitat for the threatened / endangered polar bears and contributes to loss of albedo, contributing to further global warming and loss of coral...)..  The US House of Representatives will be voting this week on a bill to weaken the Lacey Act to allow greater imports of tropical hard woods, and thus to promote commercial activities that lead to increased climate change.  It's not just about oil and fossil fuels.  It's about every type of choice all 7 Billion of us make.  Deforestation in Madagascar helps really poor people stay fed for a few additional days, and creates job for those people around the world who process the wood and sell the products the wood is turned into.  The linkages among human activities and climate change are numerous and complex.  How to educate sufficient people about this and get our leaders to make wise choices?  It will take more than a panel of experts at a meeting attended by a couple thousand people.

*************************************************************************
Dr. Alina M. Szmant
Professor of Marine Biology
Center for Marine Science and Dept of Biology and Marine Biology
University of North Carolina Wilmington
5600 Marvin Moss Ln
Wilmington NC 28409 USA
tel:  910-962-2362  fax: 910-962-2410  cell: 910-200-3913
http://people.uncw.edu/szmanta
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-----Original Message-----
From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov [mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of Lappin, Jennifer
Sent: Friday, July 20, 2012 1:22 AM
To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Subject: [Coral-List] Can coral reefs survive the 21st century?

Recorded during the recent 2012 International Coral Reef Symposium, a panel of leading experts and practitioners met in Cairns to debate the issues facing coral reefs in front of an informed audience. The one-hour episode will be broadcast at 9pm Sunday 22 July 2012 on ABC News 24 (Australia) and will also be available online at www.abc.net.au/news/abcnews24/programs/future-forum<http://www.abc.net.au/news/abcnews24/programs/future-forum>. Further information about the program and the panel members can also be found at this link.

Jenny Lappin
Chief Operations Officer
ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
Ph: +61 7 4781 4222
Web: http://www.coralcoe.org.au

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