Coral reefs are dying, and scientists and governments around the world are contemplating what will happen if they disappear altogether. The idea positively scares them.
Coral reefs are part of the foundation of the ocean food chain. Nearly half the fish the world eats make their homes around them. Hundreds of millions of people worldwide - by some estimates, 1 billion across Asia alone - depend on them for their food and their livelihoods.
If the reefs vanished, experts say, hunger, poverty and political instability could ensue. "Whole nations will be threatened in terms of their existence," said Carl Gustaf Lundin of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
Death of coral reefs could devastate nations
As Hurricane Melissa crept closer to Jamaica on Monday, Oct. 27, the island nation braced for...
The Trump administration has approved more oil and gas drilling across Alaska’s Arctic national wildlife refuge...
Melissa intensified into a hurricane on Saturday, Oct. 25, as it continued its slow slog across...
Icelanders may be the last group of people on Earth to experience the pesky bite of...
