Coral reefs around the globe already are facing unprecedented damage because of warmer and more acidic oceans. It’s hardly a problem affecting just the marine life that depends on them or deep-sea divers who visit them. If carbon dioxide emissions continue to fuel the planet’s rising temperature, the widespread loss of coral reefs by 2050 could have devastating consequences for tens of millions of people, according to new research lead by the Nicholas Institute's Linwood Pendleton and published Wednesday in the scientific journal PLOS One.

As atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels rise, very few coral reef ecosystems will be spared the impacts of ocean acidification or sea surface temperature rise, according to a new analysis. The damage will cause the most immediate and serious threats where human dependence on reefs is highest. A new analysis in the journal PLOS ONE led by Duke University and the Université de Bretagne Occidentale, suggests that by 2050, Western Mexico, Micronesia, Indonesia, parts of Australia and Southeast Asia will bear the brunt of rising temperatures. Reef damage will result in lost fish habitats and shoreline protection, thereby jeopardizing the lives and economic prosperity of people who depend on reefs for tourism and food.

A new NASA grant for nearly $820,000 will fund a three-year, Duke University-led study to monitor mangrove loss in South Asia and identify effective mitigation and protection strategies to help reverse the decline. South Asia’s mangrove forests provide numerous essential ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation, that benefit populations worldwide. They also help protect densely populated coastal regions in Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Pakistan from storm surge and flooding.

In the Huffington Post, Pawan Patil writes that the “blue” economy looks to balance ocean wealth and ocean health by sustainably managing ocean assets (e.g. fish stocks and coral reefs) and ecosystem services (e.g. coastal protection, the potential for carbon capture, and oxygen production). And according to a new report by the World Bank "Toward a Blue Economy: A Promise for Sustainable Growth in the Caribbean" which was written in collaboration with the Nicholas Institute and others, millions of people in the Caribbean could benefit.

A new World Bank report, co-authored by a Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions researcher, examines how the Caribbean's transition to a blue economy can generate growth while helping countries gain greater resilience with better ocean preservation, reports the Jamaica Gleaner.

Dominican Today reports on a new World Bank report, co-authored by a Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions researcher, that examines how the transition to a ‘blue economy’ for Caribbean countries can not only generate growth, but also help countries gain greater resilience to external shocks by better preserving the ocean.

A report released yesterday has put the economic value of the Caribbean Sea to the region—to include all its services, from fishing, transport, trade, tourism, mining, waste disposal, energy, carbon sequestration and drug development—at US$407 billion per year based on 2012 data, or just shy of 18 percent of the region’s total GDP. Co-authored by a researcher at the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, The Jamaica Observer reports that the figure is an underestimation because the region’s ocean economy to date “is not well measured or understood”. Nonetheless, it is projected to nearly double by 2050. In tandem with that increase in economic activity and earning is a projected rise in the number of threats to the ocean from the very activities which it supports.

In the lead up to this week’s ‘Our Ocean’ conference hosted by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington D.C., a new World Bank report, co-authored by a Nicholas Institute research, examines how the transition to a ‘blue economy’ for Caribbean countries can not only generate growth, but also help countries gain greater resilience to external shocks by better preserving the ocean.

The village of Loibor Siret is a community in the heart of the semi-arid grasslands and acacia woodlands of the Maasai Steppe. It is in this rural village—a three-hour drive from Arusha, the nearest city—where Christy Ihlo has found a new role supporting environmental conservation and sustainable livelihoods among Northern Tanzania’s rural communities and wildlife. For nearly a year, Christy has served as the Director of Monitoring and Evaluation at the African People & Wildlife Fund (APW). Her work helps to assess the effectiveness of APW’s programs, which are designed to achieve balance between environmental conservation and sustainable livelihoods. In this role, she is using skills that she honed as a policy associate at the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions.

Steve Roady brings a wealth of environmental law and policy experience to his new joint appointment at Duke’s Law School and the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions. As professor of the practice at the Law School and a faculty fellow at the Nicholas Institute, Roady, who has taught environmental litigation and ocean and coastal law and policy as a senior lecturing fellow at the Law School since 2003, will continue to teach. He will also be charged with creating interdisciplinary teams to examine approaches to large-scale environmental problems.