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More than 70 percent of marine protected areas worldwide are contaminated by untreated, or poorly treated, wastewater. That’s the conclusion of a new study by the Wildlife Conservation Society and the University of Queensland in Australia.
Excess nutrients found in wastewater can impede corals’ ability to grow properly and withstand increasing pressures from climate change. They also make the animals less tolerant to rising ocean temperatures and more vulnerable to bleaching—a stress response stimulated by warmer waters that causes corals to expel the colorful algae living in their tissues, turning them white.
Wastewater can reach the ocean in several ways. In some places, it starts with the absence of toilets, where rivers and beaches become the default option out of necessity, and waste is left to be washed away by rain and tides. In others, sanitation systems exist but do not keep the waste in check. Addressing this problem will require significant investment from governments as they continue to plan and fund ocean protection.
“Even a perfectly managed marine protected area will fail to achieve benefits for conservation and for people if wastewater keeps flowing in from upstream,” said Amelia Wenger, co-author of the study and global water pollution lead at the Wildlife Conservation Society.
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