@BenjiSJones Yes, their perspective is 100% wrong. The "buying time" argument has been around for decades but has been widely tested and conclusively disproven for a long time. But many gov and NGO scientists have an interest ($$$) in promoting what's essentially Ivermectin for corals.
@BenjiSJones I do sympathize as on the one hand its hard for you to know whom to trust. But, you could ask for citations of evidence in support of extraordinary claims.
And stick to people publishing in areas you are writing about. Ideally, independent (non-gov, non-NGO) academic scientists
@BenjiSJones Until the 2016 mass bleaching, a lot of mainstream coral scientists were at least open to the 'buying time' idea. But since then we've seen the world's most pristine, isolated, best-protected reefs (ie, no fishing or pollution) eg the Northern GBR, utterly devastated by warming.
@BenjiSJones Also see
There are no green-washy, local solutions here. Its simply reduce emissions to zero or lose reefs. Full Stop.
@BenjiSJones Journalists: There are many coral reef experts more than happy to talk honestly with you about what needs to be done to save reefs. Here's a few:
Some background: The 104 authors (31 female, 73 male) include some big names in the field of ocean science eg Drs Lisa Levin, Hans-Otto Pörtner, William Cheung
Ive been feeling pessimistic about marine conservation in 2018. Not only bc of bad actors (eg Trump) but also due to the duplicity, ignorance, and greed of marine scientists and conservation orgs. Some seem more interested in $ &/or recognition than actual biodiversity outcomes.
So to balance @ayanaeliza's wonderful piece about cons wins collectiv.in/SciAm08 here is a short list of some of our failures, followed by commentary on why I think they matter.
Up first has to be @TheOceanCleanup which as the @deepseanews team and many others predicted, did not actually capture any plastic. It did burn though tens of millions of cons $ and killed countless marine critters as @RebeccaRHelm pointed out. A #conservationfail of epic scale.