Because of the effects of Global Warming, the World's coral reefs are in grave danger. There is some concern that all hope is all but lost in the fight to save a vital resource for over 500 million people world wide.
But there is new idea that might be the last hope for these reefs, and that is freezing samples of them in liquid nitrogen, so they can be reintroduced into the wild, after temperatures in the oceans subside, and go back to near normal levels.
More after the fold:
The Most vital .25%:
Coral reef formations only make up about a 1/4 of 1% of the entire oceanic floor, but yet that small percentage of space, makes up a huge proportion of food, income, and coastal protection, for 500 Million coastal residences, throughout the world.
Because of Global warming, and the major increase in oceanic temperatures, many believe this vital resource to be in grave danger, and there be little to any hope. And no matter how tough regulations get on the use of carbon, and the reductions of carbon emissions, it may be too little, too late.
But several members involved in a global conference in Copenhagen, believe their best shot is capturing several specimens in the reef, and freezing them in liquid nitrogen, as just a last ditch effort to give some life to the those regions.
''Well it's the last ditch effort to save biodiversity from the reefs which are extremely diverse systems," said Simon Harding from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).
The meeting, according to bbc.co.uk, features legislators from 16 major economies, all trying to find viable ways to save Earth's dwindling resources.
The meetings are being organized by the Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment (Globe).
The reason for such concern is what the coral reefs give the planet, and the residence of many coastal regions throughout the world. These coral reef formations support about a third of the World's marine biodiversity, and are completely made up by living creatures, according to the guardian.co.uk
This vital resource to the World's marine environment, is being so disrupted that some are saying that it won't make it another fifty years.
"Unless something very remarkable happens during December's climate talks, the world's reefs will be reduced to slime-covered rubble by 2050," said Dr Alex Rogers, of the Institute of Zoology, London.
So the new proposals may be the last glimmer of hope in the fight to save the ocean's most needed resource.
How the Plan Will Work:
The plan will capture several organizations that are vital to most reefs, and freeze in cryogenic vaults, and then enforce a greater regulation on the use of carbon throughout the world, and then hopefully reintroduce the plants back into the wildlife, in hopes that they will be able to repopulate any lost parts of the reefs.
"It would take other work to try and reconstruct the reef so that you can start the process of building up a reef again," [Simon Harding] said.
"That is something that needs to be looked at in detail, but we can definitely store the species and save them in that way."
The plan is not bullet proof, and is being looked at, even by the people proposing it, as more of a try and hope process. It will work, many say, but to the extend that it will work, is unknown.
The members of the GLOBE meetings, will be discussing this proposal today, and hopefully solve one giant issue that is facing us.
How You Can Help
Other than taking a conservationist approach, which I think all of use should do, there are some things you can do that will help this cause.
You can Donate to the ZSL (the Zoological Society of London).
You can also Signup for a newsletter from GLOBE (the Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment), which will give all the information on up coming events, and what legislation is being considered for climate change.
I will add more, as more information becomes available.
Update: A couple of you were asking how they plan on doing this. Well according to abc.net.au, the main biologist supporting this idea had this to say:
"It involves going out into the field and taking coral polyps, which is basically a very small piece of coral colony, and then cutting that coral colony up into very small pieces of tissue," he said.
"That technology has basically been developed to actually freeze those tiny pieces of tissue.
"It appears that we can then basically revive those tiny pieces of tissue and enable each fragment of coral tissue to grow into a new coral polyp, and from there to essentially propagate the coral into a new coral colony.
"At the moment the concept we are actually looking at is to literally have a frozen ark, reef building corals. So that essentially is a lab-based project - freeze the diversity of corals that can build coral reefs
"But the idea is to actually set up this facility at the zoo in the UK as part of a network of similar facilities that are spread across the world."
Dr Rogers says the coral ark would be open to the public
That's a lot text, but basically he is saying that they will cut the pieces of coral into small pieces, freeze them, and then recreate a coral ecosystem, in what he is calling "a frozen ark".
Some More from abc.net.au:
When asked if he thinks biologists are admitting defeat, by doing this and not trying to preserve the already existent coral reefs:
"I don't think it is a matter of admitting defeat," Dr Rogers said.
"What I think is that essentially we have to be realistic in that we have to think about the scenarios that go along with the eventuality that we don't reach the levels of CO2 reductions that are really required to save the coral reef ecosystems."
The scientists say they hope to have a trial project for a coral ark up and running within the next two years.
If temperatures are stabilised in the future, they say they hope the coral could be re-introduced into the sea.
Again I am not promoting this, just giving you what is being talked about.