Great Barrier Reef not 'in danger'.

the UN committee has deferred listing the reef as being in danger

13/07/2006. ABC News Online


The United Nations World Heritage Committee has accepted an expert report which says world heritage sites such as Australia's Great Barrier Reef are under threat from climate change.
But the UN committee has deferred listing the reef as being in danger.
Usually heritage sites which are not being preserved or are threatened by development go on to what is seen as a black list.
The expert report says the Great Barrier Reef has world's best practice in climate management, but more coral bleaching is inevitable.
The World Heritage Committee also decided member countries need to agree that global warming is a threat to their particular heritage site before listing.
But environment groups are disappointed the committee has not accepted their calls to list sites such as the Great Barrier Reef as in danger from global warming.
Environment lawyer Ilona Miller says the groups wanted the committee to recognise that icon sites like the reef are threatened now.
"Immediate steps need to be taken to address the impact of climate change and in particular the root source - emissions of greenhouse gases," she said.
A statement issued by the committee says the causes and the effects of climate change cannot be solved in terms of world heritage properties alone.