--- title: Climate Change Expected to Worsen Coral Reef Conditions description: Current climate change trends are expected to worsen already devastating coral reef conditions, a new Nature study finds. canonical: https://time.com/4623632/coral-reef-climate-change/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-05T16:07:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:33:57.513Z article:section: Science og:title: Coral Reef Conditions Are About to Get a Lot Worse og:description: Thanks to climate change og:url: https://time.com/4623632/coral-reef-climate-change/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3b7d54b28b823f8b/6988b477cd1bba921e70381d/coral-reef-bleaching-event.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: coral reef bleaching event og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Coral Reef Conditions Are About to Get a Lot Worse twitter:description: Thanks to climate change twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3b7d54b28b823f8b/6988b477cd1bba921e70381d/coral-reef-bleaching-event.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Coral Reef Conditions Are About to Get a Lot Worse  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Jan 5, 2017 4:07 PM UTC  Fish swimming by an healthy coral reef in the Indian ocean's channel off Pate island in the Lamu archipelago off the coast of Kenya on Nov. 19, 2016. Fish swimming by an healthy coral reef in the Indian ocean's channel off Pate island in the Lamu archipelago off the coast of Kenya on Nov. 19, 2016.Tony Karumba—AFP/Getty Images  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Jan 5, 2017 4:07 PM UTC Last year was a devastating one for [coral reefs](http://time.com/coral/) around the globe, but according to new [research](http://www.nature.com/articles/srep39666), it may have been just the tip of the iceberg. A new study published in the journal _Nature Scientific Reports_ shows that coral bleaching—a process that sometimes precedes death where corals lose their color—will affect 99% of reefs each year by the end of the century if current climate change trends continue. “We are going to need to be much more innovative and proactive if we want to see coral reefs thrive into the next century,” says study co-author Gabby Ahmadia, a marine scientist at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). “Conventional conservation is not going to cut it against the impacts of climate change.” **Read More:** [The Great Barrier Reef May Soon Be in Worse Shape Than Scientists Thought](http://time.com/4292505/great-barrier-reef-climate-change/) Bleaching occurs when corals face unusual levels of stress from any of a number of sources including polluted water and other disturbances. Still, high water temperatures due to man-made global warming remains the primary cause in most cases and will be the driving factor going forward. **Read More:** [How Sunscreen Is Helping Destroy Coral Reefs](http://time.com/4080985/sunscreen-coral-reefs/) Coral reefs faced the biggest die-off ever recorded last year, thanks largely to a strong El Niño event aggravated by climate change. One [study](http://time.com/4375553/coral-reefs-bleaching-climate-change/) conducted last summer found that more than a third of corals died in some regions of the Great Barrier Reef, just one of many affected. Countries from across the planet agreed with the [Paris Agreement](http://time.com/4146764/paris-agreement-climate-cop-21/) in 2015 to work to limit global temperature rise to 2°C (3.6°F) by 2100 with an ideal target of 1.5°C (2.7°F). But, even if countries meet their commitments under the agreement, more than 75% of the world’s coral reefs will bleach each year by 2070, according to the new research. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4623632/coral-reef-climate-change/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4623632/coral-reef-climate-change/"},"headline":"Coral Reef Conditions Are About to Get a Lot Worse","datePublished":"2017-01-05T16:07:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:33:57.513Z","description":"Thanks to climate change","url":"https://time.com/4623632/coral-reef-climate-change/","keywords":["climate change","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3b7d54b28b823f8b/6988b477cd1bba921e70381d/coral-reef-bleaching-event.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3b7d54b28b823f8b/6988b477cd1bba921e70381d/coral-reef-bleaching-event.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"coral reef bleaching event","caption":"coral reef bleaching event","creditText":"Tony Karumba—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/climate-change/","name":"climate change"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4623632/coral-reef-climate-change/","name":"Coral Reef Conditions Are About to Get a Lot Worse"}}]}] ```