Vive la resilient: Don't write off our corals just yet

Headlines this past month warn that the world’s coral reefs have crossed a ‘tipping point’ toward irreversible collapse. It’s a striking phrase – and one that captures the enormity of what’s happening to our ocean. But it risks telling only half the story.

Yes, the ocean is heating. Yes, coral reefs are under siege. But beneath those stories, another reality exists: reefs, and the people who depend on them, are fighting back.

The Global Tipping Points Report 2025 finds that at the 1.4°C of warming the planet is currently experiencing, warm-water reefs are already “crossing their thermal tipping point” and experiencing unprecedented die-off.

It’s true that extreme heat has driven the fourth global bleaching event since the 1980s, with bleaching-level temperatures affecting more than 80 percent of reefs worldwide. It’s also true that large amounts of live coral have indeed been lost. Yet in the ocean, the line between life and death isn’t so simple. Coral ecosystems are extraordinarily diverse, and some reefs are proving remarkably resistant to warming temperatures.

Across the tropics, scientists – including teams from WCS with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies – are finding climate-resistant reefs: places where corals withstand high temperatures, recover after bleaching events, or avoid the worst impacts of climate change altogether.

These reefs tend to share key traits – strong currents, healthy fish populations, and connections to cooler, deeper waters. They are natural strongholds of the ocean, showing that while many reefs are struggling, others still have the capacity to survive and adapt.