When I was a kid, my dad bought me a book: Malaysia, An Underwater Paradise by Andrea and Antonella Ferrari (1998). What stuck with me forever were the vibrantly coloured pictures of coral reefs and places of interest I came across. Whale sharks, mantis shrimp, leatherback turtles, triggerfish, Sipadan, Layang-Layang, Tioman, Perhentian, these were the sea life that I thought one day I would love to see with my own eyes.
Today, the marine ecosystems mentioned in my book can only be retold as stories through the memories of the generations before us but only reimagined by today’s generation. Of course, pollution has played a key role in this global issue along with limited enforcement of marine life harvesting as we “rezeki” our way to the extinction of many species at a local scale.
More importantly, my generation does not have these memories because we are no longer born into a world with the luxury of a stable climate; and it is because of this that many of us in this generation cannot fully relate to a world that does not exist to us. But I sincerely believe that:
Our inability to relate shouldn’t give us the right or excuse for inaction. The last 10 or 20 years might be lost, but the next 50 years belong to us.
At the end of 2024, climate scientists announced that 2024 was the first year global average temperatures had surpassed 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, triggering reminders of the goals set in the Paris Agreement signed by nations almost 10 years prior1.
Keeping a Global, Environmental Promise
The Paris Agreement in 2015 was well celebrated as 195 nations, including Malaysia, came together to sign a binding agreement to keep global average temperatures well within 2 degrees Celsius, with the primary goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2100, in order to avoid the worst of climate change impacts. I remember then, as a 3rd year environmental science student, it gave me so much hope for the future and that the world would start to change for the better.
Fast forward 11 years, and the change I had hoped for never came at the pace I had envisioned. Emissions for the past decade have instead increased at a steady pace2, policy goalposts are still constantly shifted and bickered about at the expense of the environment, and we have begun to see Earth’s key systems reach tipping points.
Global Tipping Points Report 20253: “Even under the most optimistic current emission scenarios of stabilising warming at 1.5°C without any overshoot, it is considered that warm-water coral reefs are virtually certain (>99% probability) to tip, given the upper range of their thermal tipping point is 1.5°C.”
To put this in simpler terms
If we were to run the current settings of our environment 100 times in a simulation, warm-water coral reefs are going to disappear more than 99 times out of the 100 times run.
Coral Reef Bleaching since the 1980s
The projected loss of coral reefs isn’t something new that scientists have just discovered; it has been known to us since the 1980s, after the first recorded global mass bleaching event occurred4. But yet, collectively as a global society focused on industry and productivity, we chose to turn a blind eye for 40 years (and counting).
Besides being the home of more than 25% of all marine life, coral reefs act as natural barriers to tsunamis and waves from severe storms, minimising erosion along the shoreline. Coral reefs are also key assets to the tourism industry, contributing billions in revenue across the planet. More importantly, millions of coastal communities’ livelihoods depend on the marine life that these reefs support5,6.
Local Economies Depend on Coral Reefs
What will happen to the places mentioned in my book and other popular diving spots like Redang, Lang Tengah and Semporna? The process is already happening right before our eyes, and we don’t even need to go there to see it. Most of the photos and videos shared on social media are full of people sharing their underwater experiences alongside bleached, dead or dying corals. The worst part is that most of us are oblivious to the state of these reefs.
Economically, Tioman, Redang and Perhentian’s tourism value alone contribute around RM500 million a year, based on a 2022 write-up by Reef Check Malaysia; and we are yet to add in the contributions of more well-known places in East Malaysia. A study7 estimated that the economic contributions from coral reefs in Malaysia from 2008 to 2012 stood at 0.6%* of our country’s GDP.
*This percentage may be small; however, it only includes the value of direct tourism and fishing activities in our reefs. Things they don’t include (due to difficulty in estimation) are tourism spill over value (tourist spending on transport, hotels, food) and reef ecosystem services (natural barrier to coastal erosion, key feeding grounds for open water economically important species like mackerel, tuna and barracudas).
For the local communities that depend on these reefs for a living, what would happen to them? What are they supposed to do when the reefs turn black and white forever, and the fish disappear? Or when there are no longer any visiting tourists to keep their local economy going?
There are so Many Ways to Get Involved
Despite all that we have lost and the grim future of our scientists’ projections, hope remains. Like a small fire growing ever so slowly in a dark room, there is a steadily growing number of people/organisations that are joining the effort in saving our reefs.
Most resorts at Perhentian, Redang, Tioman, Lang Tengah, Gaya Island, among others and many NGOs (e.g. TRACC, Coralku, PMRS, RCM) have ongoing projects that welcome able volunteers (ability to swim or a license to dive is often required).
Depending on the organisation, volunteers can get involved in activities like reef health monitoring (e.g. count fish species, monitor coral bleaching events), educate tourists/local communities, support eco-friendly snorkelling/diving, beach/reef clean-ups and even take care of coral nurseries growing corals that will eventually be transplanted onto actual reef sites!
‘But I don’t dive…?’
If diving/swimming is not your strong suit, there is something that all of us could do every day that is even simpler: learning to live sustainably
Adopting the mindset of not wasting anything by incrementally or radically changing our daily habits to habits that reduce our carbon footprint on this planet.
A >99% probability (that coral reefs will disappear) is what scientists call “virtually certain”. But they have not given up, they who some have spent their entire lives trying to make a difference, so why should we?
We are going to need every single one of us to repeat little habits every day because it is the littlest of things that make the biggest difference in our uphill battle against climate change. As the saying goes, sikit-sikit jadi Everest.
References:
- WMO (10jan25), WMO confirms 2024 as warmest year on record at about 1.55°C above pre-industrial level. Retrieved from: https://wmo.int/news/media-centre/wmo-confirms-2024-warmest-year-record-about-155degc-above-pre-industrial-level
- IEA (24mar25), Global Energy Review 2025. Retrieved from: https://www.iea.org/reports/global-energy-review-2025/co2-emissions
- Global Tipping Points (sep25), The Global Tipping Points Report 2025. Retrieved from: https://global-tipping-points.org/
- Goreau and Hayes (2021) Global warming triggers coral reef bleaching tipping point: This article belongs to Ambio’s 50th Anniversary Collection. Theme: Climate change impacts. Ambio, 50(6), 1137-1140.
- Woodhead, A. J., Hicks, C. C., Norström, A. V., Williams, G. J., & Graham, N. A. (2019). Coral reef ecosystem services in the Anthropocene. Functional Ecology, 33(6), 1023-1034.
- Yuan, M. H., Lin, K. T., Pan, S. Y., & Yang, C. K. (2024). Exploring coral reef benefits: A systematic SEEA-driven review. Science of The Total Environment, 950, 175237.
- Bartelet, H. A., Barnes, M. L., & Cumming, G. S. (2024). Estimating and comparing the direct economic contributions of reef fisheries and tourism in the Asia-Pacific. Marine Policy, 159, 105939.
