Mombasa (AFP) — In the crystalline waters off Kenya’s coast, coral reefs are thriving — evidence of a rare good news story in the battle to protect oceans from the ravages of climate change.

A new study presented at the Our Ocean Conference in Mombasa on Tuesday finds that 166,000 square kilometers of the world’s coral reefs — around a third of the total — are particularly “climate-resilient,” meaning they have the potential to survive through major ocean warming events. 

The study by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and  Macquarie University in Australia challenges the findings of the IPCC, the global authority on climate change, which has stated 70 to 90 percent of coral reefs could die with global warming of 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels, and 99 percent at 2 C. 

“Our models are showing a much more hopeful future for corals reefs. We predict that there are many climate resilient reefs around the world that will persist over time,” Stacy Jupiter, executive director for marine conservation at WCS, told AFP.