The Australian government had obtained, in July 2021, the sending of a mission of expertise, after a first recommendation of UNESCO to register the site on the World Heritage List in danger. The final decision is expected for mid-2023.
by Isabelle Dellerba (Sydney, Correspondence)
Australia has a few more months to convince its determination to do everything to preserve the great barrier of Corail, classified as UNESCO World Heritage since 1981. Monday, November 28, the expertise mission , mandated by the World Heritage Committee in 2021, to assess its state of conservation and the measures taken by the Australian authorities to protect it, delivered its conclusions. She “recommends that the large coral barrier be included on the World Heritage List in danger”.
In this very detailed report, experts first note that “the exceptional universal value of the property is considerably affected by factors linked to climate change”. Since 1998, the largest living structure on the earth has undergone six whitening episodes – a phenomenon of decline caused by the rise in surface water temperatures and which results in the expulsion of symbiotic algae giving coral its bright color – , more and more frequent episodes which have reached more than 98 % of its 3,000 reefs.
While the 2050 Reef (reef) program, a thirty-five-year preservation plan launched by Australia in 2015, provides that the country contributes to the global effort to combat global warming to contain the Elevation of the temperature “clearly below 2 ° C compared to the pre -industrial era”, the report notes the lack of “concrete measures”. He also recalls that the ability of the large barrier to recover is “considerably compromised, in particular – but not exclusively – due to the degraded quality of water”.
Despite the colossal sums initiated by the continent island, more than 2.5 billion euros in total, the underwater kingdom continues to be affected by the discharges of sediment, fertilizers or even by plastic pollution . Finally, the document highlights a third threat: “Fishing activities”.
In June 2021, UNESCO’s scientific arm had already advocated to place the large barrier on the list of sites in danger due to its deterioration. The Conservative government, led by Scott Morrison, then launched an intense lobbying campaign with the member states of the Committee and had obtained, in July 2021, that a mission was dispatched to the scene before a decision was taken. This unique ecosystem represents a major tourist attraction for the country on which 60,000 jobs depend.
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