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UNESCO Says Great Barrier Reef Outlook Poor, but Not on Danger List

The outlook for the Great Barrier Reef is poor due to pollution and climate change, a United Nations committee said on Wednesday, but UNESCO’s World Heritage Committeee held back from listing the massive ecosystem as being in danger. The Australian government agreed in May to create a spending plan for conservation.

This video posted by UNESCO on Wednesday contains the international discussion in Bonn, Germany, on the Great Barrier Reef beginning at 1:45:38.

“Climate change, poor water quality and impacts from coastal development are major threats to the property’s health,” UNESCO said in its decision at the meeting, during which the Australian government said it would ante up another $8 million Australian for environmental monitoring.

The UN committee’s list names 45 sites worldwide in danger. Landing on the list is an embarrassment for a government, and requires creating a list of measures needed to address problems and damage, the Associated Press reported.

The reef stretches 1,200 miles along the eastern Australian coast, and brings in billions of dollars a year in tourism revenues.

UNESCO’s decision followed intense lobbying by the Abbott government, the Sydney Morning Herald reported, but, in addition, federal and state authorities taking action to help preserve the reef, which has lost about 50 per cent of its coral coverage in the past three decades.

See a turtle equipped with a GoPro take a swim through the reef here. Credit: YouTube/UNESCO