New coral bleaching threat: Nature Seychelles urges international community to save coral diversity before it is lost |19 October 2026
The Assisted Recovery of Corals (ARC) facility on Praslin Island has successfully maintained and propagated sexually reproduced corals under controlled conditions on land
New coral bleaching threat: Nature Seychelles urges international community to save coral diversity before it is lost
As a new forecast warns of another potentially devastating coral bleaching event, Nature Seychelles is calling for the urgent establishment of coral biobanks, where living corals representing different species and genetic lineages can be saved and maintained. “We want the upcoming UN Biodiversity and Climate Change conferences to deliver concrete action and funding to save coral reefs,” said the organisation’s chief executive Dr Nirmal Jivan Shah.
An experimental forecast issued by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on October 6 indicates substantial marine heat stress across the western Indian Ocean through January 2027, raising the risk of widespread coral bleaching and mortality.
To continue reading, please click here to subscribe to Seychelles NATION’s e copy