Presentation Summary:
Reefs, Risk and Responsibility: Coral Bleaching and Global Climate Change

In March 1999, a Department of State report concluded it was likely that anthropogenic global warming contributed to the extensive coral bleaching and mortality that occurred simultaneously throughout the disparate reef regions of the world in 1998. The geographic extent, increasing frequency, and regional severity of mass bleaching events are a likely consequence of a steadily rising baseline of marine temperatures. Even under the best of conditions, many of these coral reef ecosystems will need decades to recover. Human populations dependent on reef services face losses of marine biodiversity, fisheries, and shoreline protection. Trends of the past century suggest that coral bleaching events may become more frequent and severe as the climate continues to warm, exposing coral reefs to an increasingly hostile environment. This global threat to corals places greater urgency on our efforts to manage the entire range of human-induced threats to reefs, including climate change. Coral reefs are projected to be among the most sensitive ecosystems to long-term climate change; their response may foreshadow climate impacts on other ecosystems. Natural resource management agencies must consider their role in drawing attention to the predicted impacts of global climate change on the resources they manage. Even ecosystems granted well-enforced legal protection such as parks, sanctuaries, or sustainable areas may be made vulnerable by global climate change.

Biographical Sketch:

Peter Thomas received his doctorate in Animal Behavior from the University of California, Davis, in 1987 and came to the Department of State in 1991 as an AAAS Fellow. Since the Rio Earth Summit, he has been responsible for U.S. policy on the Convention on Biological Diversity and has led numerous U.S. delegations to meetings of this body. He was Global Coordinator for the International Coral Reef Initiative from June 1995 to August 1996, and remains the primary U.S. focal point for the initiative. He represents the State Department on the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force and The Task Force on Amphibian Declines and Deformities.

Relevant Publications:

Pomerance, Rafe, Jamie Reaser and Peter Thomas. 1999. Coral bleaching, coral mortality, and global climate change. U.S. Department of State Report.