Recent reports of the fourth global coral bleaching event paint a grim picture of the future of our ocean. As anomalies in ocean temperatures persist, entire reefs are at risk of irreversible damage. It’s crucial to recognize that bleaching doesn’t necessarily mean death for corals; it’s a sign of starvation, a consequence of prolonged heat stress exacerbated by factors like ocean acidification and sewage pollution. The Ocean Sewage Alliance and the Coral Reef Alliance want anyone and everyone to know that solutions are available now and hope is far from lost. Implementing sewage and wastewater solutions is effective in building coral reef resiliency and ensuring coral habitats are suitable for natural growth. It also greatly improves the lives of people in coastal communities who depend on coral reefs for income, food, and to support their livelihood.
We are facing the impending loss of entire ecosystems. Coral reefs, arguably the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet, are dying at an alarming rate due to a combination of local threats and global climate change. We’ve lost 14% of coral reefs in the last decade.
At the heart of this crisis lies excess nutrients in our oceans, particularly phosphorus and nitrogen. The majority of these nutrients originate from sewage and wastewater pollution with the United Nations documenting that 80% of global wastewater enters the environment untreated. While the scale of the problem may seem daunting, sewage pollution presents one of the most solvable challenges we face—with the potential for cascading benefits. By addressing sewage pollution, we not only give corals a chance at recovery, but also safeguard marine biodiversity, protect coastal communities from climate-fueled weather events, and bolster the resilience of our oceans. Using traditional coral restoration techniques, like propagating young corals in a lab and planting them on the reef, isn’t enough. Those young corals will not survive without clean water.
What’s particularly alarming is the environmental injustice inherent in coral bleaching events. Island nations and indigenous communities, whose lives and livelihoods depend on healthy coral ecosystems and have for generations, bear the brunt of the devastation caused by the collective inaction of larger nations, which contribute most to ocean warming. This disparity highlights the urgent need for global cooperation and accountability.
We need local and government support for community-based and scalable approaches to treating wastewater. This means the rapid implementation of solutions that fit the context of each community, whether that’s nature-based solutions, infrastructure investments, or sustainably operating community waste treatment facilities. The Coral Reef Alliance has successfully operationalized a community-led waste treatment facility in the West End on the island of Roatan. This one project alone is keeping 30 million gallons of sewage out of the ocean each year, improving the health of the community, as well as, the coral reefs that are the lifeblood of the island economy. The project is a success because the organization and its partners created all of the “enabling conditions”: community support, diverse funding, and a plan for ongoing revenue, infrastructure improvements, and political will.
With the Ocean Sewage Alliance’s influence, projects like this can be scaled. This is not an insurmountable challenge and not a single organization within either alliance is giving up on coral reefs because the solutions are available now.
It’s time for a paradigm shift in our approach to ocean conservation. We must prioritize the health of our oceans and the communities that depend on them by taking decisive action to eliminate sewage pollution and curb nutrient runoff. Let’s get comfortable talking about the impacts of human waste. Let’s embrace environmental stewardship, the only path to securing our future. Let’s heed the wake-up call of the fourth global bleaching event and work together to forge a sustainable future for ourselves and our ocean.
This piece was prepared online by Panuruji Kenta, Publisher, SEVENSEAS Media