Great Barrier Reef: International ambassadors ‘concerned’ at ‘in danger’ call

UNESCO ambassadors express unease at a proposed downgrading of the health status of the reef to ‘in danger’.

UNESCO’s planned downgrading of the health of the Great Barrier Reef has blindsided Australia.

Eleven countries have backed Australia’s call to denounce ­UNESCO’s consultation process after it proposed downgrading the health status of the Great Barrier Reef to “in danger”.

The Australian revealed this week that Australia was blind­sided by a push by the China-chaired UNESCO World Heri­tage Committee’s decision to downgrade the reef’s health class­ification without consultation or on-the-ground verification and will oppose the draft ruling.

The listing will be presented for ratification at the 44th meeting of the World Heritage Committee next month.

Eleven UNESCO ambassadors have co-signed a letter to UNESCO director-general Audrey Azoulay collectively expressing concern about the agency’s consultation process in the lead-up to the July meeting.

Signature nations include France, Canada, Britain, Thailand and Spain. France’s involvement is regarded as especially significant because Ms Azoulay is a former French politician.

The delegates said the World Heritage Centre and Advisory Bodies’ recommendations should be based on transparent and extensive consultation with countries concerned, especially when making “significant decisions” such as “in danger” listings.

“We acknowledge the limited ability for UNESCO and its Advisory Bodies to evaluate and analyse reports, as well as to visit World Heritage properties, particularly during the Covid crisis,” the letter reads.

The Morrison government believes the decision was politically motivated, although China has rejected suggestions it played a role in a draft “in danger” classification for the reef as “totally groundless smear and slander”.

Scott Morrison slammed the UNESCO process, describing it as “appalling”. The Prime Minister also said the scope of countries who had co-signed the letter of complaint was “extraordinary”.

Environment Minister Sussan Ley said the ambassadors’ concerns about the consultation process mirrored the issues raised by Australia.

“I hope that within the construct of the World Heritage Committee – which Australia has always worked constructively within and we want to continue that – that these processes may be re-examined and some reconsideration made of what was an extraordinary draft decision,” Ms Ley said in Canberra.

Ms Ley described the decision as a “complete subversion of normal process”, noting it was not backed up by any on-the-ground scientific assessment.

Labor has called on the federal government to back up its claim that the decision was driven by China’s ideological agenda. The opposition also accused the government of years of inaction ­regarding protecting the reef.

“UNESCO decisions in 2015 and 2017, major reports in 2017, 2019 and 2020, and bleaching events in 2016, 2017, and 2020 should all have sounded alarms for the federal government,” Labor’s environmental spokeswoman Terri Butler said.

The Morrison government will heavily lobby members of the World Heri­tage Committee to push back against the draft ruling. However, it faces an uphill ­battle because a majority of the body’s members have signed up to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.