Colchester, Essex (Commonwealth Union)– Almost half of the world’s population live closer to the coast a figure that is likely to continue to furthers strain the natural resources on the coast.
A new study has indicated millions more people worldwide are relying on endangered coral reefs than 20 years ago, according to new data into elevated populations in coastal areas. The study from the University of Essex has demonstrated that the amount of people residing in coastal areas by coral reefs has risen to nearly one billion, an increase of 250 million since 2000 and rates are rising in these areas faster than global averages.
A cause for concern has been that the areas nearest to the coral reefs are where people’s direct livelihoods rely on these ecosystems, which has witnessed a population density boom that is currently 4 times the global average. The findings provide the most recent and extensive data on global, regional and nation-level differences in coastal population behavior residing within 5-100km of coral reefs.
Humans residing close to ecosystems indicate the dependency on those ecosystems, as well as a possible threat. Climate change is the most significant threat facing coral reefs but, in these corals, adjacent coastal areas there is a balance to be seen between the vital services coral reefs provide to humans, such as defense against storms, food supply and livelihoods, and the potentially destructive human activities that take place such as overfishing and pollution to the destruction of corals for construction. Human activities also play a significant factor in coral reef health and survival.
“Coral reefs are at the forefront of our climate catastrophe. They are also subject to many human-made impacts – from pollution and overfishing to tourism and extraction of raw materials,” said lead researcher Dr Amy Sing Wong from Essex’s School of Life Sciences.
