Rising sea temperatures are pushing coral ecosystems beyond their thermal limits, triggering mass bleaching events across the Indo-Pacific, Caribbean and Great Barrier Reef. As ocean heat waves become more frequent, scientists warn that without urgent emissions reductions, over 90% of the world's coral reefs could face annual bleaching by 2050.

OceanConf 2026 will dedicate an entire session to coral resilience research and the interventions — from selective breeding to assisted evolution — that offer a fragile lifeline to these irreplaceable ecosystems.