The Bush Administration has admitted that climate change is killing coral reefs and therefore, under US law, it is obliged to take action to reduce pollution killing the reefs. This month, the US National Marine Fisheries Service ruled that two species of coral – elkhorn and staghorn – must officially be registered as threatened under the US Endangered Species Act, partly because they are threatened by rising sea temperatures. They are the first species ever to be listed as a result of global warming.