Only 15 per cent of global coastal regions remain intact

Date:
February 7, 2022
Source:
University of Queensland
Summary:
New research has revealed that only 15 per cent of coastal areas
around the world remain intact, exposing the need for urgent
coastal rehabilitation and conservation on a global scale.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
New research has revealed that only 15 per cent of coastal areas
around the world remain intact, exposing the need for urgent coastal rehabilitation and conservation on a global scale.


==========================================================================
The University of Queensland-led international study mapped the impact
of human-caused pressures on coastal regions to identify those that are
already highly degraded, and those that remain intact.

Brooke Williams, from UQ's School of Earth and Environmental Sciences,
said the findings, which have been compiled into a free and useable
dataset, provide valuable insights into humanity's widespread impacts
on Earth's precious coastal ecosystems.

"Coastal regions contain high levels of biodiversity and are relied
upon by millions of people for ecosystem services such as food and storm protection," Ms Williams said.

"Our results show that we need to act quickly and decisively if we hope
to conserve those coastal regions that remain intact, and restore those
that are heavily degraded, especially if we're going to mitigate the
effects of climate change.

"The rate at which these regions are degrading poses massive threats to
not only coastal species and habitats, but also to the health, safety
and economic security of countless people who live or rely on coastal
regions around the world." The research team discovered that, of the
15.5 per cent of coastal areas that remain intact as of 2013, Canada was responsible for the largest expanse of coastal region that stood intact.



========================================================================== "Other large expanses are located in Russia, Greenland, Chile, Australia,
and the United States," Ms Williams said.

"Coastal regions containing seagrasses, savannah, and coral reefs
had the highest levels of human pressure compared to other coastal
ecosystems." UQ's Dr Amelia Wenger, a collaborator of the research,
said the collaborative research approach, which involved looking at two datasets -- one, which focused on human impacts on land, and the other
which observed human impacts from a marine perspective -- offered a
clear vision about what the next steps should be.

"While we already knew how important it is to protect biodiversity and ecosystem services in these coastal regions, being able to clearly see how rapidly and how far this degradation has spread, is truly eye-opening,"
Dr Wenger said.

"Understanding why coastal ecosystems are under pressure can help us
design and implement more targeted management strategies, and hopefully
slow this degradation down and even turn it around.

"We're urging governments and custodians of these environments to
proactively conserve the valuable remaining intact coastal regions that
they are responsible for, while restoring those that are degraded.

"We think our dataset will be a vital tool in achieving that
ambition, which is why we're making it publicly available and free
to use." Dataset: https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:fd85061
special promotion Explore the latest scientific research on sleep and
dreams in this free online course from New Scientist -- Sign_up_now_>>> ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Queensland. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Brooke A. Williams, James E.M. Watson, Hawthorne L. Beyer,
Carissa J.

Klein, Jamie Montgomery, Rebecca K. Runting, Leslie A. Roberson,
Benjamin S. Halpern, Hedley S. Grantham, Caitlin D. Kuempel,
Melanie Frazier, Oscar Venter, Amelia Wenger. Global rarity of
intact coastal regions.

Conservation Biology, 2022; DOI: 10.1111/cobi.13874 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220207083448.htm

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