coral bleaching

Indigenous Australians Challenge Government Over Climate at UN

Indigenous Australians Challenge Government Over Climate at UN

A group of indigenous Australians plans to submit a complaint to the UN that accuses Australia of failing to act on climate change. The group resides in the low-lying Torres Strait Islands in the country’s north. It argues that Australia’s lack of climate change policies is putting their culture and ancestral homeland at risk. “Tides […]

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    Scientists Discover ‘Most Diverse Coral Site’ on Great Barrier Reef

    Scientists Discover ‘Most Diverse Coral Site’ on Great Barrier Reef

    Australian scientists have found the “most diverse coral site” on the Great Barrier Reef, observing at least 195 different species of corals in space no longer than 500 meters, The Guardian reported. The non-profit organization Great Barrier Reef Legacy and marine scientist Charlie Veron, a world expert on coral reefs, confirmed the diversity of the […]

    The Seafloor Is Disappearing

    The Seafloor Is Disappearing

    By Marlene Cimons Much of the deep sea has never been explored close-up by humans. Some submarines have plumbed its depths, but reaching the ocean bottom is a complicated and expensive journey, challenging because the seabed lies under more than three miles of water, which exerts huge amounts of pressure. “We know more about space […]

    Australian Prime Minister Ousted Over Climate Policy

    Australian Prime Minister Ousted Over Climate Policy

    Conservative lawmaker Scott Morrison has forced out Malcolm Turnbull as Australian prime minister, the third time the country’s leader has sunk over climate policy in the past decade, and the seventh since 1997, according to Australia’s ABC News. An internal Liberal party row started when Turnbull proposed modest emissions targets for the country’s energy sector. […]

    New Caledonia Bans All Types of Extraction Surrounding Pristine Coral Reefs

    New Caledonia Bans All Types of Extraction Surrounding Pristine Coral Reefs

    The French overseas territory of New Caledonia announced Tuesday the highest possible levels of protection for some of the world’s last unspoiled coral reefs. All types of extraction, including commercial and industrial fishing, has been banned in the Chesterfield, Bellona, Entrecasteaux, Pétrie and Astrolabe coral ecosystems, according to a Tuesday press release from the World […]

    Forecasting Coral Disease Outbreaks Could Buy Time to Save Reefs

    Forecasting Coral Disease Outbreaks Could Buy Time to Save Reefs

    By Amy McDermott Hawaii’s knobby finger coral careened toward extinction in 2015. The species was so rare that scientists could only find a few fragments in the wild, scattered across the seabed of Oahu’s Kaneohe Bay. It might have been a familiar story. Vanishing species like Southern Resident orcas and North Atlantic right whales pile […]

    ‘Twilight Zone’ Reefs Win a Conservation Spotlight

    ‘Twilight Zone’ Reefs Win a Conservation Spotlight

    By Allison Guy In May 2016, technical divers descended 200 feet to Benham Bank, the shallowest portion of a huge underwater plateau off the Philippines’ northeast tip. As they neared the bottom, an otherworldly landscape emerged from the dim cobalt blue. Plates of coral grew one atop the other like china at a yard sale, […]