- Australia must report back to UNESCO World Heritage Centre again in 2028 on progress to better protect Great Barrier Reef
- World Heritage Committee highlights action to battle climate change and water pollution, as well as live coral exports
- Committee singles out water pollution as a major problem, and urges Australia to finally achieve Reef-wider water quality targets
The World Heritage Committee today confirmed it will continue oversight of the Great Barrier Reef, the Australian Marine Conservation Society said after the committee approved a draft decision from the UNESCO World Heritage Centre at its annual meeting in South Korea.
The committee welcomed Australia’s progress on protecting the Great Barrier Reef, but stated it was critical Australia accelerate efforts, especially in regards to addressing water pollution and meeting the water quality targets. It recommended – for the fifth successive time – that the Australian Government report back on progress to better protect the World Heritage-listed Reef, this time in 2028.
The decision comes after global sea surface temperatures hit a record high last month, highlighting climate change and raising concern for the upcoming summer and coral bleaching. The Reef has suffered six mass coral bleaching events in just nine years as a result of extreme marine heatwaves, including back-to-back bleaching events in 2024 and 2025.
AMCS Great Barrier Reef Campaign Manager Dr Lissa Schindler, who addressed the World Heritage Committee meeting in Busan after the decision passed, said: “The decision over the Great Barrier Reef just adopted by the World Heritage Committee acknowledges that assessment against the criteria for inclusion on the World Heritage ‘In Danger’ list remains relevant. Australia now has two years to prove it can implement all its commitments or it will face the prospect of an ‘In Danger’ listing again.
“The World Heritage Committee has repeatedly identified climate change, water quality, land clearing and fisheries management as key threats to the Reef’s long-term survival. While governments have made progress in some areas, significant gaps remain.
“Climate change remains the biggest threat to the Great Barrier Reef, with increasingly frequent marine heatwaves causing six mass coral bleaching events in just the past decade.
“The Australian government has at least increased its targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, but at the same time it continues to approve new coal mines and gas drilling and the country remains one of the world’s largest exporters of fossil fuels. Meanwhile, the Queensland Government, the joint manager of the Reef, has no plan to achieve its legislated 75% emissions reduction target, and continues to push coal-fired power generation while renewable energy projects are blocked or shelved. This is the opposite of what the Reef needs.
“Protecting the Reef also requires addressing local threats, such as water pollution and the harvesting of live coral from the Great Barrier Reef, which UNESCO has called on Australia to undertake a comprehensive review of current coral harvesting practices.
“Despite the increasingly frequent coral bleaching, Australia allows businesses to chip off healthy corals from the Great Barrier Reef to export for private aquariums. More coral is removed from the Great Barrier Reef every year than the government’s million-dollar taxpayer-funded coral restoration programs can add.
“Water pollution continues to impact the health of corals and seagrasses and consequently the Reef’s ability to cope with mounting stress. The World Heritage Committee has again singled out the need for more accelerated progress to address this issue.
“Australia has never hit its Reef-wide water pollution reduction targets despite extending the deadline three times since they were set in 2009. At current reduction rates, it would not have hit the target to cut nitrogen pollution from excessive fertilisers until the next century.”
“The Queensland government’s recently announced $330 million funding to address water pollution is welcome, but its water quality strategy fails to provide a clear, costed pathway for achieving the pollution cuts needed to protect the Reef.
“The Great Barrier Reef remains one of the most extraordinary natural wonders in the world. It’s also an economic powerhouse for Australia. It contributes $9 billion to the economy every year and is the nation’s fifth biggest employer, supporting 77,000 jobs. We should not need the World Heritage Committee to tell us we need to do more to protect it.”