At the very last second, Australia managed to avert the image catastrophe for the Great Barrier Reef.
After enormous efforts by lobbyists and politicians in Australia, the Unesco World Heritage Committee has not classified the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of the fifth continent as "endangered" world heritage for the time being.
Christoph Hein
Business correspondent for South Asia / Pacific based in Singapore.
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With another decision, Australia feared that it would feel even more pressure against its climate and coal policy and that it would lose billions in business with tourists on the reef after the corona pandemic. Environment Minister Sussan Ley had stated that the recommendation to identify the reef as "endangered" was driven by Beijing and politically motivated. Unesco's scientific advisors had previously recommended that natural wonders be downgraded.
In the run-up to the decision, Canberra had accused China of using the growing tensions between the two countries to downgrade the reef.
Beijing had protected itself from it with clear words.
At the 44th meeting of the body of the UN Organization for Education, Science, Culture and Communication in the Chinese city of Fuzhou these days, the Australians were able to get the majority of the 21 member countries on their side, as they did six years ago in Bonn.
Australia gets away with the presentation of another report
Australia should now once again submit a report on the condition and preservation of the Great Barrier Reef before the committee will discuss an entry in the reputation-damaging Red List again at a next meeting in February.
Coral bleaching and the plague of the crown-of-thorns starfish are very hard on the reef.
Agriculture along the east coast makes the more than 340,000 square kilometer reef even worse.
Since being named a World Heritage Site in 1981, it has lost over half of its coral stocks.
Scientists see ocean warming as the main cause.