Caribbean corals reefs have declined 80% in the past thirty years according to a report released today.
The study, which was based on data from 263 individual sites, provided evidence to suggest that hard coral cover had dropped from 50% to just 10% in 30 years. Scientist Toby Gardner told the Guardian: "We are the first to pull information together from across the region and put a hard figure on coral decline. The rate of decline we found exceeds by far the well publicised rates of loss for the tropical forests".