Fourth mass coral bleaching prompts UN emergency session at biodiversity summit

The United Nations, scientists and governments made an urgent call Wednesday for increased funding to protect coral reefs under threat of extinction. Research this year shows that 77% of the world’s reefs are affected by bleaching, mainly due to warming ocean waters amid human-caused climate change. It’s the largest and fourth mass global bleaching on record and is impacting both hemispheres, United Nations Capital Development Fund said. The findings prompted a U.N. special emergency session — typically called to address escalating conflicts or natural disasters — on corals to be convened on sidelines of the U.N. biodiversity summit, known a…