Environment Minister Sussan Ley invites UN to inspect Great Barrier Reef

UNESCO has been invited to assess the Great Barrier Reef, after the agency proposed declaring its health status was ‘in danger’.

A green sea turtle swimming in the Great Barrier Reef.

Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley has formally invited UNESCO to visit the Great Barrier Reef and conduct an on-the-ground assessment, after the agency proposed declaring its health status was “in danger”.

Australia has vowed to fight a recent decision by the China-chaired UNESCO World Heri­tage Committee to downgrade the reef’s health class­ification without any consultation or any on-the-ground verification.

Last week, 11 countries backed Australia in denouncing UNESCO’s lack of consultation process following the draft listing.

Writing in The Australian on Wednesday, Ms Ley said an in-person visit to the reef by committee representatives was the only way to assess its status.

“The reef is big enough to be seen from space, but you can’t see it from an office in Paris, and that is the least that was deserved in this instance,” she said.

“This decision, based on a desktop review, did not include the latest science showing both coral recovery and water quality improvements, or the strength of collaborations on reef restoration and adaptation – and that is why it came as a shock.”

Ms Ley said Australia was being used as a “poster child” for the wider climate change agenda, which she argued eroded both confidence in, and the credibility of, the World Heritage Committee’s processes. “UNESCO representatives admit they want to sound an international warning note about the dire fate that awaits all countries if global warming is not halted,” she said. “If UNESCO wants to make an example of Australia, despite all it is doing to protect its reefs, what incentive is there for those who do not have the same level of resources?”

She acknowledged climate change was the biggest threat facing the Great Barrier Reef, but said it required global action. “Are the (WHC) advisers seriously sugges­t­ing Australia can single-handedly change the emissions trajectory of the whole world?” she said.

Ms Ley said following past bleaching events in 2016, 2017 and 2020, Australia had refocused its efforts to invest in research on heat-resistant corals and water-quality strategies.

She said in May the World Heritage Centre advised Australia’s officials that none of its properties would be considered for an “in-danger” listing this year.But a senior UNESCO official told Guardian Australia that Australia had not been provided – either formally or informally – any assurances before the decision was announced.

The draft listing will be presented for ratification at the 44th meeting of the World Heritage Committee next month. The Morrison government will heavily lobby members of the World Heritage Committee to push back against the 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.

Labor has accused the government of years of inaction ­on protecting the reef, pointing to past UNESCO decisions and bleaching events which the opposition claims should have “sounded alarms” for the government.