Bleaching corals at Looe Key Reef off Florida on July 28, 2023. Rising sea temperatures mean reefs don’t have enough time to bounce back between intense heat waves, a new report warns. [Jason Gulley/The New York Times]
Coral reefs around the world, struggling as climate change drives more frequent and more intense marine heat waves, are running out of time for recovery, according to a sweeping new report on the state of the world’s corals published Monday.
The comprehensive global assessment builds on decades of research and coral monitoring, and highlights the devastating effects of warming on one of Earth’s most delicate and diverse ecosystems.
It found that the world’s coral reefs had declined by 9.5% in the period from 2020 to 2024, compared with 1980 to 2009. The largest single-year coral decline on record, which affected 87% of reefs worldwide, occurred in 2024.
But perhaps the most alarming finding is that reefs, which protect coastlines from storms and support at least a quarter of marine life at some point in their life cycles, now have a much narrower window for recovery.
