Are you aware that coral reefs benefit more than 500 million people directly?

Ocean acidification is aggravated due to increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide level. It is estimated that atmospheric carbon dioxide levels will reach 450 parts per million by 2040.This level will cause irreversible damage for coral reefs, after which they will go into terminal decline around the world. And estimates show that coral reefs will be extinct by 2100. 

Coral reefs not only provides shelter for marine organisms, it also supports food chains and food webs that include thousands of different organisms. In fact, 25% of fish species spend some part of their life cycle in reefs, despite thefact that they cover less than 1% of the ocean floor. 

Besides these biological implications, destruction of coral reef could lead to severe social and economic impact. Coral reefs act as a natural barrier to shorelines, reducing wave energy by an average of 97 percent across all studies globally. Without it, the properties and safety of residents localized near the shore would be concerned.

Moreover, over 100 million people directly dependent on the goods and services provided by coral reefs, for their survival. This includes income from fishing and tourism, use of fish as a source of nutrition (protein) and use of coral reef in medicine.

The idea of coral reef being a source of medicine may be intriguing to you; in fact, corals have been recognized as an important source of new drugs to treat cancer, arthritis, Alzheimer’s, bacterial and viral infections, and heart disease, among other serious illnesses, according to the US-based National Ocean Service. And in particular, soft corals have been found to possess compounds that could be used to treat various types of cancers.

Here are a few examples. A study published in 2013 in the journal Marine Drugs titled, Secosteroids and Norcembranoids from the Soft Coral Sinularia nanolobata , details how two steroid compounds isolated from soft corals are used by researchers, who performed various experiments on human cytomegalovirus, mouse lymphocytic leukemia, human colon adenocarcinoma and human lung carcinoma. 

In a recent article published in PLoS, 11-epi-sinulariolide acetate (Ya-s11), a known cembrane- type compound, was isolated from the soft coral, Sinularia querciformis, and evaluated in its anti- inflammatory potency in vitro as well as in adjuvant-induced arthritis (AIA) in rats.In the AIA mice, Ya-s11 severely reduced the effects of arthritis by inhibiting migration of inflammatory cells to joints and preventing bone destruction.

Therefore, with all these meaningful implications of coral reef, we need strong action to reduce the major drivers of reef decline being climate change, water quality and pest management.

References:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/11/09/why-the-death-of-coral-reefs-could-be- devastating-for-millions-of-humans/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/04/20/and-then-we-wept-scientists-say-93- percent-of-the-great-barrier-reef-now-bleached/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_issues_with_coral_reefs#Australia https://reefresilience.org/stressors/bleaching/bleaching-impacts/ https://infogram.com/coral-reef-1h9j6qk5jyxy6gz http://oceantippingpoints.org/our-work/research-activities/management-review/coral-reefs-discovery-bay-jamaica https://aida-americas.org/en/blog/did-you-know-coral-reefs-produce-medicine https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2014/184959/