UN weighs Great Barrier Reef reprieve for Australia / Photo: SARAH LAI - AFP
-
Manchester United rallies past Roma as PSG dominates in Champions League
-
Qatar prime minister advances mediation through diplomatic calls
-
Qatar sees tentative opening for renewed regional diplomacy
-
Greenland parliament approves security agreement with United States
-
Qatar Tourism joins Pacific Asia Travel Association at London travel market
-
Qatar envoy meets incoming UN General Assembly president
-
Abdul El-Sayed Wins Michigan Senate Seat in Historic Election
-
Trump Signals Willingness to Work With Democrats After Midterm Defeat
-
Qatar media bodies discuss support for humanitarian initiatives
-
Galloway accuser could not foresee publishing-sector fallout, lawyer argues
-
No. 22 UCLA defeats No. 5 Arizona 84-75 despite Kharchenkov's 38 points
-
New York City Center revives In the Heights as a timely community story
-
Vessel operator seeks witnesses after Vancouver grounding
-
Godzilla Minus Zero shifts focus toward postwar human drama
-
US Air Force deploys F-16 fighters to remote Aleutian base for readiness drill
-
Mehbooba Mufti urges dialogue and renewed Central Asia links for Kashmir
-
Bezos grant helps Seattle nonprofit move thousands of families toward housing
-
Seacliff Healthcare Seeks Specialist GP in Thirroul
-
Shrini Srivastava joins crew of Varanasi-Delhi Vande Bharat Sleeper service
-
US stocks fall before midterm Election Day as technology shares weaken
-
Nearly Half of Australian Workers Overqualified, Survey Finds
-
BLS Polymers makes strong market debut at ₹248 per share
UN weighs Great Barrier Reef reprieve for Australia
The UN's cultural agency UNESCO said Monday its experts recommended giving Australia more time to boost protection of the Great Barrier Reef which the organisation's World Heritage Committee has threatened to declare "in danger".
On the basis of progress made by Australia, the experts said the natural wonder's current state should not be discussed at this year's World Heritage Committee meeting in September in Riyadh, but instead be revisited in 2024.
However the experts, whose advice still needs to be approved by the Committee, said surveillance of the Reef would be strengthened and Australia needed to submit a progress report on the implementation of UNESCO's recommendations by February.
Climate change is threatening the Great Barrier Reef's ecosystem, causing severe bleaching and damaging its corals.
Since 2016, the Great Barrier Reef has been hit by three mass bleaching events, during which heat-stressed corals expel algae living in their tissues, draining them of their vibrant colours.
UNESCO said last month it welcomed Australia's commitments to protect the Reef, with the government pledging 4.4 billion Australian dollars ($2.9 billion).
The fate of the reef has been a recurrent source of tension between UNESCO and Australian authorities, with the World Heritage Committee threatening to put the world's largest coral system on a list of "in danger" global heritage sites.
Behind-the-scenes diplomacy and lobbying from Australia have avoided such a move and commitments from the Labour government of Anthony Albanese have drawn praise from the Paris-based organisation.
Albanese's centre-left government, which ended nearly a decade of conservative rule in May last year, has also blocked a planned coal mine because it would endanger the reef and has scrapped funding for two dams in Queensland.
The Great Barrier Reef is one of the country's premier tourist drawcards and any inclusion on the in-danger list was seen as risking putting off international visitors.
UNESCO began a monitoring mission on the reef in March 2022 to assess whether the site was being adequately protected.
On Monday, UNESCO again stressed the Great Barrier Reef's "urgent conservation needs" which it said required "broad mobilisation".
It still remained "possible" to inscribe the Reef on the list of world heritage sites in danger, it warned.
A.P.Maia--PC
