Asia’s coral faces a deadly onslaught

SMALL BOATS criss-cross Black Rock Reef on their way to nearby seaweed and pearl farms. Below, the blue lips of giant clams open and close amid a jungle of multicoloured coral. At the sound of a distant detonation—dynamite fishing, although illegal, is common in the area—a small shark swims hurriedly away. The reef lies nestled off the town of Taytay, on the island of Palawan in the Philippines. Its vivid blues, pinks and greens are a welcome sight given how many nearby corals died because of unusually warm water almost a decade ago—a blight that is becoming commonplace because of global warming.

The outlook for coral is dire. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a UN body, predicted last month that a rise in global temperatures of 1.5ºC relative to pre-industrial times would probably kill 70-90% of the world’s coral reefs. Given that the planet has already warmed by about 1ºC, the countdown for corals has begun. But the diversity of coral species and the variety of habitats in which they thrive mean that they will not disappear in a uniform way. Understanding why reefs like Black Rock survive and recover from overheating is essential to conservation efforts.