How do urban oceans survive the threat of climate change in tandem with sitting off-shore from a thriving metropolis of over 5 million people? Coral reef survival in urban oceans is a totally unchartered story. How will urban reefs survive rising temperatures, acidification, pollution, shipping.
Dive with scientists from the Earth Observatory of Singapore as they investigate the impact climate change is having on the ocean, explore engineering ideas for artificial reefs, and discover a coral species showing resilience to climate change.
Could these super corals be part of the solution to save the health of the OCEAN?
Southeast Asia is home to the coral triangle, the planet’s richest centre of marine life and coral diversity, where over 70% of the world’s coral species can be found, and where many mega cities sit alongside vast areas of urban ocean. Coral reefs and urban ocean are feeling the impact of our changing climate, but a new breed of super corals found in Southeast Asia, is giving scientists hope!
Most people don’t realise that the oceans contribute up to 70% of the world’s oxygen supply and that coral reefs are really the rainforests of the oceans – they are the lungs of the sea and they support huge amounts of biological connectivity and biomass. The global epicentre of coral diversity is right here in Southeast Asia, in an area known as the coral triangle. The coral triangle is roughly a geographical area that spans warm seas between the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, and Indonesia. And it is inside the geographic boundary that we see over 70% of the world’s coral species, a huge variety of reef fishes and many other marine organisms that live in marine eco systems. Because coral reefs are such an important marine habitat in Southeast Asia, how they react to global pressures, to climate change and to increasing human activities, is critical for understanding global ocean health and ultimately our own survival.
In this episode we travel by boat to Hantu Island to dive on a coral reef where super corals are showing resilience to urban pressures and climate change. Visit St John’s Marine Laboratory Island off the coast of Singapore, where research tanks are growing super corals to support pristine reefs. Travel to Hawaii to meet Dr Greg Asner who is mapping the health of the coral reefs around the world. Explore coral condominiums being positioned into urban oceans around Southeast Asia to build new coral reefs in the region. Narrated by Dr Sylvia Earle, awarded First Hero of the Planet by TIME magazine, the series is rich in colour, content and provides hopeful solutions from super corals found in Southeast Asia. These might be the solution for coral reefs in decline from the pressures of climate change on our ocean.
