China's boom damages coral reefs: study

CHINA'S economic boom has seen its coral reefs shrink by at least 80 per cent over the past 30 years, a joint Australian study has found.

Scientists from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology say their survey of mainland China and South China Sea reefs shows alarming degradation.

"We found that coral abundance has declined by at least 80 per cent over the past 30 years on coastal fringing reefs along the Chinese mainland and adjoining Hainan Island," said the study, published in the latest edition of the journal Conservation Biology.

"On offshore atolls and archipelagos claimed by six countries in the South China Sea, coral cover has declined from an average of greater than 60 per cent to around 20 per cent within the past 10-15 years," it added.

Coastal development, pollution and overfishing linked to the Asian giant's aggressive economic expansion were the major drivers, the authors said on Thursday, describing a "grim picture of decline, degradation and destruction".

Coral loss in the South China Sea - where reefs stretch across about 30,000 square kilometres - was compounded by competing territorial claims.

There were some marine parks aimed at conservation but study author Terry Hughes said these were too small and too far apart to arrest the decline in coral cover.

"The window of opportunity to recover the reefs of the South China Sea is closing rapidly," he said.

More than 30 years of unbridled economic growth has left large parts of China environmentally devastated by some of the most severe air, water and land pollution in the world, global studies have shown.

This has sparked protests and some proposed new factories have been scrapped or postponed.

The government also has a plan to transform China's development mode to one that is more environmentally friendly.

However, the South China Sea is strategically significant, home to vital shipping lanes and believed to be rich in resources.

China claims most of the sea including waters near the shores of its neighbours. Rival claimants include Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, and tensions have flared in recent years.

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