New research highlights the declines in living corals in reefs around the world, showing the unprecedented twin-danger of human-caused climate change and an expected record El Niño.

A report published by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network warns global hard coral cover has declined by approximately 9.5%, driven by climate-induced heat stress.

The proportion of reef surface covered by living coral has fallen by 9.5 percent, compared with just the 1980–2009 average.