Climate Change Reduces Coral Reefs' Ability to Protect Coasts

Coral reefs in the tropical islands have been put under pressure from human activities and climate change. Because of this, the reefs aren’t able to protect the island from erosion and wave attack. People who live on the island depend on the coral reefs to protect them. The islands flood a few times a year. The rate of the flooding will increase because of the rise of sea level and the decay of the coral reef. The loss of the coral reefs will increase erosion and effect the amount of drinking water available on the islands. Because of the rising sea level, the roughness of the water is degrading the coral reefs. One solution to the coral reef destruction is to find the reason for the water level rising. Once the cause of that is decided, then we could find a way to fix both problems. There will need to be more research done to figure out the cause of the problem. Another solution is to cut back on human activity in the tropical coral reefs. Barriers to these solutions are the lack of support people give to small problems. It will be hard to trace the cause of the problem if there isn’t a team of people trying to find it. Another barrier is lack of knowledge. Many people don’t know the harm that they do to the coral reefs by invading them. People need to be educated and pushed to help the cause. People aren’t going to notice or care about the flooding or the water shortage unless it is directly effecting them. Otherwise, it isn’t their problem. We need to find people want to help not only the reefs but want to help the people on the islands.

 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150722141428.htm