Degradation, loss of coral reefs to affect people in southeast Asia: IPCC report

Context

Degradation and loss of coral reefs can affect about 4.5 million people in southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s Sixth Assessment Report on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability.

Key-findings of the Report

• The reefs are being bleached and are dying due to changes in the beneficial microorganisms of coral, caused by environmental stress.
• This loss and degradation of coral reefs can affect the livelihood of about 4.5 million people in southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean.
• In the coral reef fisheries sector, there are about 3.35 million fishers in southeast Asia and 1.5 million fishers in the Indian Ocean.
• Corals occupy only 0.1 per cent of the global sea surfaces. But more than 25 per cent of marine biodiversity is supported by them, which includes fisheries as well. 

What is a coral reef?

• Coral reefs are made up of colonies of hundreds to thousands of tiny individual corals, called polyps. 
• These marine invertebrate animals have hard exoskeletons made of calcium carbonate, and are sessile, meaning permanently fixed in one place. 
• Polyps grow slowly, forming different shapes and sizes depending on their species.
• Assisted by other animals with calcium carbonate skeletons and also coralline algae, corals form complex, three-dimensional reefs.