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Coral reefs cover just 0.2% of the ocean floor but are home to at least a quarter of all marine species.

And now the largest analysis of coral reef health ever undertaken has found that between 2009 and 2018 the world lost about 11,700 sq km of coral – the equivalent of more than all the living coral in Australia.

The biggest cause of loss is the mass coral bleaching events caused by rising sea temperatures.

One of the report authors is Dr David Souter from the Australian Institute of Marine Science. He says given the right conditions bleached coral can recover, and so this should act as a call to arms, not be a reason to despair.

"All is not lost for coral reefs. There is hope if we work as a global community to reduce emissions and locally to reduce other threats like dynamite fishing... But the window of opportunity we have to... to get them back where they were 20 or 30 years ago is closing."

(Photo: A research diver swims over a reef which is recovering from coral bleaching. Credit: Getty Images)

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