What is the potential effect of climate change on Red Sea coral reefs and tourism in Egypt?
Kuoni, HEPCA, IUCN and local tour operators are working in partnership to address this issue. The Red Sea hosts one of the most intricate and biologically diverse coral reef systems in the world. The elevated salinity levels and high seasonal temperature fluctuations that occur in the Red Sea means that the reefs have evolved under extreme conditions. Nevertheless, almost every reef system in the world has been affected by coral bleaching, which has increased dramatically in its frequency and distribution over the past two decades as a result of climate change and other human impacts. Some climate change models have predicted 95% of the world’s coral reefs may be lost by the end of this century. This threatened global reef system sustains the livelihoods of not only the tourism and fishing industries, but all coastal communities that depend on it for sustenance and extreme weather protection. Over the past two decades, mass coral bleaching has increased dramatically in terms of frequen
