Great Barrier Reef: World Heritage in Danger?
Shrinking coral and failing government may land the reef on a "list of shame."
The World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has warned that without the urgent implementation of sustainable management improvements, the reef could land on its list of World Heritage in Danger as early as 2014.
"World Heritage in Danger is essentially the list of shame, and we've got real concerns that UNESCO may put the Great Barrier Reef on this list," said WWF-Australia's Richard Leck. "That's not the outcome that anybody wants," Leck added, noting that national prestige and some $6 billion in annual reef-related tourism could both take a hit.
A government-funded Australian Institute of Marine Science report published last year in the journal PNAS echoed the shockingly bad news from earlier
