The Last Coral: A Love Letter to the Dying Reefs

Beneath the waves, one of Earth’s most extraordinary ecosystems is fading from colour to white. Coral reefs — the rainforests of the sea — are dying at an unprecedented rate, taking with them a quarter of all marine life and the livelihoods of millions who depend on them.

In The Last Coral, Alex Southwick journeys from the Great Barrier Reef to the islands of the Pacific, tracing the human and ecological story of the planet’s most fragile wonder. Through scientists, divers, and coastal communities, Southwick captures both the urgency of the crisis and the fierce devotion of those fighting to preserve what remains.

This is not just a tale of loss, but of endurance — of reefs regenerating in unlikely places, and of people refusing to surrender to despair.

Measured, moving, and unsentimental, The Last Coral asks what it means to love something vanishing — and whether that love might yet be enough to bring it back.