Caribbean coral reefs have halved in size

Since 1980, coral reefs have decreased by 48 percent, almost halved: this data comes from a study carried out by the Global coral reef monitoring network which also summarized the causes of this environmental disaster.

First of all, the very intense increase in marine heat waves, which in turn are due to the climate crisisAnd in fact, reef losses were particularly concentrated between 2023 and 2024 (the hottest year ever), when temperatures in Caribbean marine waters reached record levels. Along with the loss of surface area, Caribbean coral reefs have become flatter compared to the 1980s, and in this way both their capacity to protect the coasts and their function as a natural habitat for some fish species has been reduced.

The climate crisis isn't the only cause of the halving of Caribbean coral reefs. There are also:

• THEpollution. From waste caused by tourists (for example, leftover sunscreen) to some agricultural (such as fertilizer residues) and industrial waste: these are all factors that lead to the acidification of coral reefs, reducing their surface area.
• Plastic waste. They are the most devastating for corals: they suffocate them, or poison them with bacterial infections. 
• La overfishing. In the Caribbean seas, intensive and uncontrolled fishing contributes to the physical destruction of corals and to ecosystem problems. 
• Le coral diseases. Some diseases, typical of corals and due to pollution, become devastating for reefs. Among these, in the Caribbean the one that causes the most damage is White Band Disease (literally: white band disease). The disease originates and develops due to certain pathogenic bacteria, which proliferate due to environmental stress: it becomes epidemic and is visible to the naked eye, as white bands appear on the corals, signs of the gradual but unstoppable death of the tissues. La White Band Disease It spreads upwards, starting from the base of the corals and then reaching their apex. 

Read also:

• What are coral reefs for?
• Why corals bleach
• Giorgia Maggioni: The Coral Restorer of the Maldives