Status of coral reefs of the world and Japan, future projections, and conservation measures

Abstract

One of the major causes of rapid coral-reef decline is coral bleaching induced by anomalously high sea surface temperatures. Projections based on climate models show contrasting futures from different anthropogenic CO₂ emission scenarios, suggesting reducing CO₂ emissions is mandatory to save coral reefs. In addition to reducing the emissions, setting up adaptation measures to conserve coral reefs is needed. Both national and international conservation measures are emerging, and Japan issued “Emergency Declaration on the Large-Scale Coral Bleaching Event Conference on Emergency Countermeasures for Large-Scale Coral Bleaching” in response to the large-scale bleaching in 2016. Both mitigation and adaptation strategies for climate change are needed to save coral reefs.