Coral islands in Australia at risk of disappearing

More than a dozen of the coral islands that mark Australia's maritime boundaries are at risk of disappearing, a study has found.

Multiple stresses including rising sea levels threaten their existence.
Their disappearance could have implications for the country's maritime borders, the study said.
The islands extend the jurisdiction of Australia, with over a million square kilometres of its territory supported and demarcated by their presence.
The study assessed 56 islands based on factors including how vulnerable they are to heatwaves and being flooded.
The report, which was published in the Science of the Total Environment journal, identified three islands on Western Australia's North West Shelf that were considered at "very high risk" of climate threats.
Eleven more islands in the Coral Sea off the Queensland coast were classed as facing high risk.