The new Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 2025 report, released by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) finds that the world’s coral reefs are running out of time to recover between increasingly frequent marine heatwaves and global bleaching events driven by human-induced climate change. Despite the long-term global decline, the report also shows that coral reefs have the potential to recover when given the opportunity. Following the third global coral bleaching event, global hard coral cover saw a relative increase of approximately 6% between 2017 and 2019, demonstrating that reefs have maintained their natural capacity to regain hard coral cover when disturbances are reduced and sufficient recovery time is available. The report draws on more than 40 years of global data from 21.1 million observations from 36,886 sites across 124 countries, territories and economies, making it the most comprehensive assessment of coral reef status ever undertaken. It provides the clearest picture yet of how climate change and local pressures are reshaping coral reefs worldwide, and how action today can strengthen resilience for the future.
Read the press report and download the report.