At the environmental conference that took place in December 17, 2007 in Buenos Aires, the reports on coral showed that almost twenty percent of the existing coral Reefs in the world had either been destroyed or are unlikely to recover in the near future. Also, the report states that twenty-four percent of the coral reefs are decaying in the due to human activities in their area and more than over twenty-six percent threat to collapse on a long term.
The change in the global climate in past few years has been associated with the bleaching of the corals, a disease that causes death to masses of reef colonies. The sudden increase of the water temperature in the ocean has a hard impact on all the marine creatures, especially the coral.
But even in these conditions sixteen percent of the Reef colonies that were struck by bleaching in 1998 have surprisingly recovered and are more prosperous than ever, especially in the Indian Ocean area and in the west side of the Pacific.
The corals living in reefs have amazing regeneration abilities that stun the scientific world. Due to the fact that they are rock-like skeleton creatures that build up microscopic animals called polyps to absorb the nutriments and oxygen in the water, coral reefs mostly thrive in fish cemeteries. Extremely colorful structures such as the Great Barrier reef in Australia can host many species, from sharks to seaweed.
In order to save the Reefs, that seem to have symbiotic relationships with many other species, some measures must be taken. For example it is recommended to reduce pollution and to restrict the fishing in the coral areas. In order to protect the coral, the government of the problematic area must fight to reduce carbon dioxide emissions below the safety limit and create special areas under the direct protection of the authorities.
