Scientists studying reefs that were bleached in the late 1990s by high surface sea temperatures have found a link between recovery rates and the levels of contamination entering coastal waters from developments on the land. The ability of coral reefs to survive in a globally-warming world may crucially depend on the levels of pollution to which they are exposed, new findings indicate. Scientists studying reefs that were bleached in the late 1990s by high surface sea temperatures have found a link between recovery rates and the levels of contamination entering coastal waters from developments on the land. The findings, released at an international marine pollution conference taking place in Beijing, China, have come from a team led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Nature Seychelles, the environment wing of the Government of the Seychelles, and scientific and government experts from the Netherlands and Norway.