India, Dec. 11 -- Hard coral cover in the Caribbean has dropped by 48% between 1980 and 2024, new monitoring shows.

Repeated mass bleaching events - in 1998, 2005 and 2023-24 - drove major declines.

Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease, now spread across 30 countries, is causing unprecedented mortality.

Losses of key herbivores such as the Diadema sea urchin have fuelled an 85% surge in macroalgae.

Rising sea temperatures, growing coastal populations and invasive species are reshaping reef ecosystems.

Hard corals across the Caribbean have declined by almost 50 per cent in just over four decades, according to new global monitoring data that point to rising ocean temperatures and fast-spreading diseases as key drivers of the collapse.

A ma...