Chaudhry and his cabinet hostage. This sets off a series of riots,
killings, and a military coup. The tourist economy falters. As a jour-
nalist, I am naturally disturbed that I have missed the action, coming
home with photographs of eroding seawalls rather than Fijians burn-
ing Indian shops. On the other hand, I know that while ethnic conflicts
can be resolved, there is little the Fijians themselves can do to protect
their kids from a future of rising seas and dying reefs.
The U.S. State Department estimates the value of coral reefs at
well over $100 billion. The Florida Keys generate $2.5 billion a year
from tourism. The Barrier Reef brings $2 billion a year (in U.S. dollars)
in tourist revenue to Queensland, and Fiji’s $250 million ocean-based
tourism industry is the largest in that small country.
Other reef products and services include commercial fisheries,
storm barrier protection for islands and coastlines, and potential phar-
maceutical medicines including new cancer-fighting compounds
derived from soft corals.
More than their utilitarian value, however, the reefs represent one
of the most biologically diverse communities of life on earth, with
more than 25,000 known species of plants and animals.
Moving weightless through their vast and intricate gardens, I find
it hard not to feel a sense of moral obligation and outrage. If we let the
world’s reefs die, turning white as bone so that we can keep burning
coal and oil, we will rightfully earn the scorn of future generations
denied the awesome experience of our blue planet’s living coral heart.
140 David Helvarg