Climate Change and Coral Reefs: Impacts, Mitigation and Recovery Strategies

Coral reefs are facing an unprecedented threat caused by the increasingly intense effects of global climate change which endangers their existence and, as consequence of their weakening and decline, reduces the benefits of all the services they provide, including vital resources for the marine biodiversity, protection of the coastal environments and direct sustenance for millions of people. Furthermore, studying the extent and direct effects of this threat is not always straightforward and predicting future consequences is a hard challenge, in addition to the fact that, due to the relatively recent nature of the research on this phenomenon, there is a lack of long-term available data. No less, numerous factors make this challenge difficult to overcome such as the social aspect involved and the complex and different conformations that these ecosystems take on in various parts of the world. This report investigates the impacts of these stressors on coral ecosystems and their biological and ecological effects on the health and resilience, focusing on the most damaging events, such as coral bleaching, ocean acidification and rising of sea temperatures. It also explores various mitigation and recovery strategies, including coral restoration techniques, the establishment of marine protected areas and innovative and promising approaches such as assisted evolution, genetic engineering and coral gardening. It also highlights the importance of public awareness and empathy and local community engagement as well as more global or circumscribed initiatives. In doing so, this study’s primary aim is to analyze practical strategies for the preservation and recovery of coral reefs and to highlight their importance across various areas, thanks to a detailed review of current scientific literature and case studies.