The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is set to deliver its final ruling this week regarding the status of Australia's Great Barrier Reef as an endangered World Heritage site.
Members of UNESCO's World Heritage Committee are in Bonn, Germany to discuss whether to include the reef system in its "in-danger" list. The organization had already threatened to downgrade the Great Barrier Reef's health status three years ago.
The Australian government has sent federal and Queensland ministers to the German city in the hope of persuading the members of the committee to adopt a draft decision not to list the Great Barrier Reef as endangered.
The government fears that an "in-danger" listing would severely damage Australia's trade as it could place tough development restrictions on farmers, miners and tourism operators in the country.
The Australian ministers believe that the blacklisting will be avoided after the introduction of several initiatives designed to improve the health of the reef system as well as through their determined lobbying efforts.
The federal government announced the formation of a 16-man expert panel last week that will help advice officials in implementing the Reef 2050 plan.
For its part, the government of Queensland has approved funding for monitoring reef water in real time.
Several conservation groups, however, remain skeptical about the government's efforts and called on officials to do more to protect the reef system.
Green groups warn that if the draft decision is adopted, it will only effectively place Australia on probation with regards to the management of the Great Barrier Reef.
Greg Hunt, Australia's federal environment minister and one of the delegates sent to Bonn, has accused conservation groups of releasing exaggerated reports on threats to the reef.
He said that Greenpeace has been waging a campaign of deception in order to have the Great Barrier Reef be declared as endangered.
Hunt's counterpart in the Queensland government Steven Miles, however, defended the role of green groups in forcing a fundamental shift in conservation efforts in the country. He believes these efforts could help convince the committee to adopt the draft ruling against the blacklisting.
The draft ruling highlights UNESCO's concern about the status Great Barrier Reef. It requires the Australian government to provide a progress report regarding its commitments by December 1, 2016.
Greenpeace representative Nikola Casula said that they believe the draft ruling will be confirmed at the committee meeting in Bonn, but they remain confident that the Great Barrier Reef will stay on the watch list.
Photo: Paul Toogood | Flickr
