This week, I asked the President of the COP26 climate summit whether he would ensure that protecting coral reefs is a priority for the remaining months of the UK’s Presidency, and whether it will be a priority when COP27 is hosted in Sharm-El-Sheikh, which has some of the best dive sites in the world, later this year.

At 2 degrees of warming, 99% of corals reefs will be destroyed. Even if the Paris Agreement target of 1.5 degrees is actually achieved, we will still lose 70%.

As a diver myself, I know how incredible coral reefs are, and have seen the staggering amount of marine life they are able to support. Allowing them to be lost through mass bleaching events would be a devastating loss to ecosystems. I wasn’t very impressed with the COP President’s response, in which he spoke quite generally about climate change adaptation and will be pressing for more action.

This week, I asked the President of the COP26 climate summit whether he would ensure that protecting coral reefs is a priority for the remaining months of the UK’s Presidency, and whether it will be a priority when COP27 is hosted in Sharm-El-Sheikh, which has some of the best dive sites in the world, later this year.

At 2 degrees of warming, 99% of corals reefs will be destroyed. Even if the Paris Agreement target of 1.5 degrees is actually achieved, we will still lose 70%.

As a diver myself, I know how incredible coral reefs are, and have seen the staggering amount of marine life they are able to support. Allowing them to be lost through mass bleaching events would be a devastating loss to ecosystems. I wasn’t very impressed with the COP President’s response, in which he spoke quite generally about climate change adaptation and will be pressing for more action.

Watch here.