Greenpeace Taiwan yesterday urged local governments to declare a “climate emergency” and called on divers to help scientists monitor coral recovery over the next three months, as experts have warned that bleaching is reaching irreversible levels.
This year has seen the most severe and extensive coral bleaching since Academia Sinica began monitoring the nation’s near-coast reefs in 2012, scientists at the institute’s Biodiversity Research Center said.
Reefs along the northeast coast, Kenting National Park, Penghu County, Green Island (綠島) and Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) have been affected, with more than half of the coral off Orchid Island showing signs of bleaching, they said.
Photo courtesy of Greenpeace Taiwan
“We never imagined that even off the northeast coast, where the average water temperature is lower, there would be extensive bleaching,” doctoral student Aziz Mulla said. “This shows the extent of bleaching this year.”
The phenomenon is gradually expanding north, potentially endangering reefs at higher latitudes off Japan and the Korean Peninsula, a joint study by Academia Sinica and Philippine researchers found.
With the COVID-19 pandemic disrupting international travel, increased domestic tourism has also played a role in the worst coral bleaching in 25 years, Greenpeace said.
“People do not know that bleaching is a sign that the coral is dying — they even find it beautiful,” professional freediver Yeh Tzu (葉子) said. “Knowledge and education about ocean ecology is clearly lacking in Taiwan.”
To track reef conditions as temperatures cool, Greenpeace is to conduct a three-month survey of key coral populations off Green Island, Orchid Island, Kenting and Siaoliouciou Island (小琉球), the group said, inviting divers to join them.
Greenpeace said it would provide color cards for divers to photograph with the coral to determine their health, and instructed volunteers to record location, ocean temperature and depth for each image.
Local governments — especially in Pingtung and Taitung counties — must immediately declare a climate emergency and commit to seeking more resources from the central government for coral conservation and climate management, Greenpeace Taiwan climate and energy campaign director Lena Chang (張皪心) said.
“When comparing rising temperatures around the world, we can see that Taiwan’s is rising at a faster pace” this year, she said.
“Climate emergency is not just a slogan, but an important commitment by local governments to respond to climate change and take action to protect nature and their residents’ quality of life,” Chang said.
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