CCTV9英语新闻：Deepwater shipping channel threatens serious damage

The World Wildlife Fund says about a quarter of the world's coral reefs are damaged beyond repair - and another two-thirds are under serious threat. One particularly old and unique reef off the coast of Colombia is now squarely in that territory. CCTV's Michelle Begue reports - on government plans to build a deep water shipping channel in the area.

Juan Jose Chavarriaga has been a diver volunteer -- monitoring Cartagena's coral reefs, for the past 20 years. 

"We are about to dive, remember if you see the lionfish we have to kill it," Juan Jose Chavarriaga, director of Divers of Baru, said.

Juan Jose is warning of the invasive lionfish that is threatening coral reefs in these waters. But there is a more pressing danger that has brought us to the Varadero Reef.

In February, the Colombian government signed an agreement to advance construction plans for a deep-water channel entrance to Cartagena Bay - one that would allow passage of the larger ship traffic expected from an expanded Panama Canal.

Conservationists say such a channel poses a huge threat to the coral reefs that thrive here.

"This is not only about the damages that can be made by digging the hole but also the 200 or 500 meters surrounding the area that are impacted by the rise of sediments in the area," Chavarriaga said.

The threatened coral reefs around Varadero and the Draga and Abanico Islands are unique, say scientists. While in the Caribbean most coral reefs cover around 10 to 20 percent of coastal areas, this reef still covers 50 to as much as 80 percent of the ocean floor.

"It is a resilient coral reef and recently found with large colonies of about 3 meters in diameter which means it took 300 years to form. They are unique on a global level because they have resisted local impacts like the movement of small boats and sedimentation from other canals," Nora Galvis, director of Observatory Pro Coral Reefs, said.

With the decline of coral reefs around the world, scientists say it is important to study why and how this ecosystem has survived against the odds. 

"The government says they want sustainable development and have promised internationally that they will do this. So it will be contradictory if they do this unsustainable development that would allow a mega-project to destroy a coral reef that has been conserved naturally," Galvis said.

We reached out to government officials at Invs -the National institute in charge of the project- for a comment on these concerns, but they have yet to respond.

For now it seems a coral reef that has survived centuries of natural and human pollutants, may finally fall - to Colombia's plans for development.