UN scientific advisors have recommended the Great Barrier Reef not be placed on a list of world heritage sites “in danger” but stressed the planet’s biggest coral reef system remains under “serious threat” from global heating and water pollution.
Unesco said in a report that the Australian government had taken positive steps to protect the reef since a UN monitoring mission visited Queensland in March last year.
But Unesco has in effect put Australia on notice, as it recommended the government provide a progress report in February before the reef is considered for inscription on the “in danger” list again in 2024.
The government said the report was confirmation it was acting on climate change and “working hard to protect the reef, and that the rest of the world has taken notice”.
The report’s recommendations – including a set of “draft decisions” – will be considered at the 21-country world heritage committee’s September meeting in Saudi Arabia, which currently chairs the committee.
Last year’s UN mission report listed several steps the federal and state governments should make to protect the reef, including accelerating improvements to water quality, a faster rollout out to the state’s sustainable fishing strategy and the removal of gillnets from the park.
That report also said the government should have “clear commitments” to cut greenhouse gas emissions “consistent with the efforts required to limit the global average temperature increase to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.”
Since the UN mission in March, the report said the Albanese government had legislated an improved target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 43% by 2030 and to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
Experts have said Australia’s latest 2030 target is not consistent with a global goal of keeping global heating to 1.5C.
Despite saying the efforts by the state and federal government should be “noted with appreciation”, the report also says the reef “remains under serious threat and urgent and sustained action” was needed “to improve the long-term resilience of the [reef].”
The Unesco report, which includes input from the International Union for Conservation of Nature, was positive about commitments from Australia to spend $1.2bn to reduce nutrients and fertilisers running into the reef’s waters.
But a “drastic shift” was needed to reach water quality targets for fine sediment and dissolved nitrogen. On water quality “progress remains slow”, the report said.
Since the UN mission, Queensland had promised “complete implementation” of its sustainable fisheries strategy by the end of this year and to make sure the reef was free of gillnet fishing by June 2027.
The federal environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, said: “Unesco’s draft decision acknowledges that, under Labor, Australia is once again serious about protecting the Reef and acting on climate change.
“Our Great Barrier Reef is one of the planet’s most outstanding natural wonders. I encourage people from around the world to come and see our beautiful reef for themselves – you’re very welcome.”
Unesco is recommending Australia be asked to provide a progress report next February on its efforts to cut pollution and reduce threats from fishing.
Reef scientists are concerned a predicted El Niño climate system will raise the risk of the reef experiencing another mass bleaching event this summer.
The Unesco report says: “The sequence of bleaching events in 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2022, the latter of which occurred during a La Niña year for the first time, are of utmost concern.”
Greens oceans spokesperson Senator Peter Whish-Wilson said the “world will be watching” the reef’s fortunes and the government “should remember this next time it inevitably looks to approve another fossil fuel project”.
In 2021, the Morrison government launched a furious lobbying effort on members of the committee after Unesco had recommended the reef should go on the “in danger” list because of the impacts of climate change and pollution from farms.
The committee rejected the scientific advice and agreed not to put the reef on the danger list.
The shadow environment minister Jonathon Duniam said the Coalition’s reef investments “meant that Unesco never classified the reef as ‘in danger’ under our government”.
He said: “Our plans led to unprecedented levels of hard coral cover during what Unesco itself described as a period of ‘unparalleled science and management’ at the reef.”
Richard Leck, head of oceans at WWF-Australia, said Unesco had “kept the Australian and Queensland governments on probation”.
Leck said latest figures showed land clearing in reef catchments had risen and improved emissions reduction targets were needed federally and in Queensland, which had the least ambitious 2030 target of any state.
He said: “There’s an opportunity for Australia to lift its game before it is required to provide a progress report to the world heritage committee next year.”
Dr Lissa Schindler, reef campaigner at the Australian Marine Conservation Society, said Unesco’s recommendation was a “vote of faith” and the government now needed to make good on its promises with the reef facing the risk of coral bleaching this summer.
