Rising ocean acid levels ‘among top threats to coral’

Oceans’ rising acid levels have emerged as one of the biggest threats to coral reefs, acting as the “osteoporosis of the sea” and threatening everything from food security to tourism and livelihoods, the head of a US scientific agency said.

The speed by which the oceans’ acid levels have risen caught scientists off guard, with the problem now considered to be climate change’s “equally evil twin”, said National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief Jane Lubchenco.

“We’ve got sort of the perfect storm of stressors from multiple places really hammering reefs around the world,” said Ms Lubchenco, who was in Australia to speak at the International Coral Reef Symposium in the north-east city of Cairns, near the Great Barrier Reef. “It’s a very serious situation.”