Australia avoids UNESCO downgrade of Great Barrier Reef

Australia has garnered enough international support to defer for two years an attempt by the United Nations’ cultural organization to downgrade the Great Barrier Reef’s World Heritage status because of damage caused by climate change

CANBERRA, Australia -- Australia on Friday garnered enough international support to defer for two years an attempt by the United Nations’ cultural organization to downgrade the Great Barrier Reef’s World Heritage status because of damage caused by climate change. UNESCO had recommended that its World Heritage Committee add the world’s largest coral reef ecosystem off the northeast Australian coast to the World Heritage in Danger list, mainly due to rising ocean temperatures. But Australian-proposed amendments to the draft decision at a committee meeting in China on Friday deferred the “in danger” question until 2023. In the meantime, a monitoring mission will visit the reef to determine how the impact of climate change can be managed.