Coral jewellery trade threatens reefs

Coral reef experts meeting in Florida last week said rising global temperatures and increases in ocean acidity are threatening to wipe out a third of the world’s coral species by 2050.

But there are other threats to the survival of corals, including a thriving trade in coral jewellery, especially in Indonesia. The lobby group “Too Precious to Wear” is hoping to have coral added to the endangered species list under the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES.