Is it time to give up?

The world's coral reefs show rapid decline as a result of environmental change. Coral reef communities and organisms are stressed, potentially mortally, by (1) rising temperature, (2) rising atmospheric/surface ocean CO₂ levels, (3) rising human populations, and (4) local aspects of climate change other than temperature. Further increase in all of these stressors is certain; the future rates and magnitudes of items 1–3 can be estimated with confidence to be substantially greater than changes in the recent past.