The UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean has called for an Emergency Session on Coral Reefs at COP16 later this month following an expression of ‘deep concern’ over the ongoing fourth global – and most extensive on record – coral bleaching event.

Convened in partnership with the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) and the Global Fund for Coral Reefs (GFCR), the session will feature representatives of coral states, leaders in coral reef action, and renowned scientists to deliver the latest scientific analysis as well as clear and critical action paths for scaling up conservation efforts.

Over the course of the last year, climate change impacts and a range of other anthropogenic stressors have pushed the world’s coral reefs into a fourth mass bleaching event – the second in the last ten years. 

During the third global coral bleaching event from 2014 to 2017, it was estimated that more than 65.7% of the world’s coral reefs had experienced bleaching-level heat stress. The fourth global event has now surpassed even these levels and, as of late August this year, findings indicated that 75% of coral reefs worldwide had now been impacted by bleaching-level heat stress since January 1, 2023. 

In March this year, the Australian Marine Conservation Society released video footage showcasing the extent of coral bleaching across the southern part of the Great Barrier Reef where it has now been sighted down to at least 18 metres in depth. On a global level, bleaching-level heat stress – as remotely monitored and predicted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coral Reef Watch (CRW), has been found extensively across the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.

“I am deeply concerned about the ongoing fourth global coral bleaching event,” said H.E. Ambassador, Peter Thompson, the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean. “Healthy coral reefs are crucial for the well-being of 25% of all marine life and over a billion people, including vulnerable coastal communities. These ecosystems provide essential services like food security, coastal protection, and livelihoods. Yet, they are on the brink of collapse.”

In response to these concerns, the Special Emergency Session on Coral Reefs will take place on the sidelines of the sixteenth meeting of the United Nations’ Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) running from October 21st to November 1st in Cali, Colombia this year.

Although corals can survive these kinds of bleaching events, the greater concern is for the many ecosystems they underpin. Covering less than one percent of the ocean floor, reefs support an estimated 25% of all marine life, with over 4,000 species of fish alone. Vulnerable coastal communities depend on healthy reefs for coastal protection, stabilized food security, and their own livelihoods.

Studies indicate, however, that interventions to address local threats facing reefs can support a greater resilience to climate change impacts, including bleaching recovery. But, with the window for protecting these ecosystems “closing rapidly”, Thompson has stated that integrated strategies to support resilience and avert ecosystem collapse “must urgently be scaled up.”

The session will therefore bring together representatives of coral states, leaders in coral reef action, and globally renowned scientists to present the most up-to-date scientific analysis regarding the state of coral reefs; deliver clear action points, strategies, and scalable resilience initiatives offering the “best chances of thwarting functional extinction”; and outline the critical opportunities and entry points for public and private leaders to scale up transformative conservation action to avert functional extinction.

The Special Emergency Session will be held in the Large Blue Zone Official COP16 Side Event Room (Subnational & Local Governments Room, Plaza One) on October 30, 2024, running from 16.30-17.30.

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