The Great Barrier Reef remains off the United Nations' World Heritage Committee (WHC) list of in-danger sites - the decision was made overnight at the 46th WHC session in India.
Each year UNESCO reviews the latest research on the state of the Reef and assesses measures taken by Australian governments to protect and preserve the largest living structure on Earth, UNESCO then makes a recommendation to the WHC - the draft decision this year came with a call for stronger emissions reduction targets. The WHC has urged Australia to increase its climate targets to be in line with limiting warming to 1.5 degrees, and it's given the government 6 months to report back; it has also asked Australia to report back on mortality from the 2024 coral bleaching event which is the worst on record.
There have been five mass coral bleaching events on the Great Barrier Reef in the past nine years, with global ocean temperatures breaking heat records every day of last summer - scientists tell us this kind of stress doesn't allow coral species time to recover, and many say the Reef has now reached a tipping point, with fundamental changes occurring to its biodiversity and ecological function.
Australia's leading reef experts are
