Logo
menu
search
Blog

Ocean to COP: Coral reefs can help save the world

A guest blog by ocean leaders Peter Thomson (UN), Abdulla Naseer (Maldives) and Susan Lieberman (Wildlife Conservation Society)

    PUBLISHED 5 NOVEMBER, 2021 • 5 MIN READ

      Today is Ocean Day at the COP26 climate-change summit in Glasgow. COP26 and the upcoming UN summits on biodiversity and the ocean (to be held in Kunming and Lisbon, respectively) provide strong opportunities to ensure coral reefs do not fall through the cracks during this critical decade for our planet. But seizing the moment at these conferences will require ambition and vision.

      The UK, as host of COP26, has made adapting to climate change a key priority. This is a welcome response to significant concerns from many governments that adaptation has been de-prioritised in climate negotiations and associated funding mechanisms.

      Discussions on climate adaptation in Glasgow must address how the international community can increase knowledge, technical capacity and funding to reduce pressures on those reefs that are the most climate-resilient—reefs that scientists have demonstrated are global refuges for wildlife amid warming water temperatures and ocean acidification. Strengthening, funding and implementing national plans for climate adaptation will be key to these reefs’ survival, and they will in turn help shelter untold quantities of aquatic life that would otherwise likely perish.

      Crucial complex systems on the frontlines of climate change

      The global community must recognise the vital role that coral reefs play in creating a sustainable ocean economy and fighting the worst effects of climate change. These complex and unique ecosystems promote biodiversity, foster livelihoods and help maintain the vibrancy of ocean life, but they face severe and growing threats. They must be protected and restored as part of any broad-based sustainability strategy for the planet.

      As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released in August 2021 emphasised, climate change is a global crisis threatening all of humanity. Another joint report from the IPCC and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services highlights how the climate crisis is connected to the other great existential threat to humanity: that of biodiversity loss. Nature-based climate solutions like conserving forests and peatlands—which store massive amounts of carbon—depend on protecting the critical biodiversity found in those ecosystems.

      Corals: indispensable solutions to our biodiversity and climate crises

      When it comes to biodiversity, coral reefs are superstars of the ocean. They are built inch-by-inch by coral polyps over thousands of years into spectacular structures that provide a home for 37% of the world’s known fish species as well as a habitat for endangered sharks, rays and marine mammals. This diversity exists despite a relatively small geographic spread—reefs account for less than 0.1% of the ocean floor.

      In addition to being the most biodiverse ecosystems in the ocean, healthy reefs also absorb 97% of coastal wave energy, saving billions of dollars in storm damage each year and preventing catastrophic floods in coastal communities. Ecosystems like coral reefs will play an important role in helping people adapt to the projected consequences of climate change, such as extreme weather events due to historical emissions. The integrity of coral reefs, including their proper functioning, is critical to the well-being and livelihoods of more than 1bn people worldwide, many in poor coastal communities.

      Because reefs are complex coastal ecosystems, we have struggled to reverse their global decline. Existing shortfalls in funding to conserve and manage coral reefs may be further exacerbated by an increasing focus on ecosystems that function as carbon sinks—such as peatlands and seagrass forests. We need both; ocean funding can support marine ecosystems that provide climate-related benefits as well as those that are crucial to biodiversity. Often, these habitats are one in the same.

      Yet overlooking coral reefs will have harmful consequences for vulnerable people who depend on them. Their continued degradation and loss will threaten a lifeline for millions of people who rely on them for food and survival, as well as the mitigation of storm surges and other natural hazards.

      OceanImageBank BrookPeterson 04

      Image credit: Brook Peterson

      Backing up talk with action

      New global targets for conserving biodiversity, to be adopted at the Kunming summit and implemented over the coming decades, also offer a chance for governments to focus more sharply on these critically important and climate-vulnerable ecosystems. Unfortunately the current draft targets make no specific mention of highly biodiverse and vulnerable ecosystems like coral reefs.

      Thankfully, government and NGO members of the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI), the world’s leading global partnership dedicated to conserving coral reefs, have come up with key recommendations that governments can use to strengthen their biodiversity targets and make them relevant to coral reefs. These measures, paired with the best available science and a suite of coral-reef indicators recommended by ICRI in line with global coral-reef monitoring programmes, will enable stakeholders to transform targets into local and global action.

      OceanImageBank MattCurnock 57

      Image credit: Matt Curnock

      Eyes on the US

      This month the United States assumed the chair of the ICRI secretariat. We encourage it to work closely with partners, including other coral-reef countries, UN agencies and civil society, to maximise the outcomes of the climate and biodiversity summits in favour of strong, meaningful coral-reef conservation. We believe there is still a good chance to restore, recover and save coral reefs if governments take full advantage of upcoming global conferences. We call on world leaders to back up their words in support of coral reefs with concrete actions and commitments.


      Main image credit: Alex Mustard


      Peter Thomson

      United Nations secretary-general’s special envoy for the ocean

      Peter Thomson is the United Nations secretary-general’s special envoy for the ocean, a role in which he drives global support for UN Sustainable Development Goal 14, to conserve and sustainably use the ocean’s resources. He served as president of the UN General Assembly in 2016-17. He was Fiji’s permanent representative to the UN from 2010 to 2016, during which time he led the executive board of UNDP, UNFPA and UNOPS and was elected president of the International Seabed Authority’s Assembly and Council. He is a founding co-chair of Friends of Ocean Action and is a supporting member of the High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy.

      Peter Thomson

      Susan Lieberman

      Vice-president of international policy at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)

      Susan Lieberman is vice-president of international policy at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), where she leads policy engagement in multiple intergovernmental forums. She has extensive experience with treaties and other intergovernmental bodies, including CBD, CITES, CMS and UNESCO World Heritage. Previously Ms Lieberman worked for the Pew Charitable Trusts, WWF International, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. She obtained her PhD in tropical ecology and did postdoctoral research at the University of Southern California. She was elected in 2021 as IUCN regional councillor for North America and the Caribbean, and was a member of President Obama’s Advisory Council on Wildlife Trafficking.

      Lieberman Susan

      Abdulla Naseer

      Minister of state for environment, climate change and technology for the Maldives

      Abdulla Naseer is minister of state for environment, climate change and technology for the Maldives. He leads the country’s strategy for managing environmental issues, particularly those relating to biodiversity and protected-area management. Previously he was executive director of the Maldives’ Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture. Mr Naseer is a published coral-reef scientist with a PhD in biology from Dalhousie University, where he focused on the integrated growth response of coral reefs to environmental forcing.

      Abdulla Naseer
      Ocean Health