: UNESCO Says Australia’s Great Barrier Reef Isn’t In Danger Yet. Many Environmentalists and Divers Disagree #WorldNEWS Tony Fontes first went scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef in 1979 on a

UNESCO Says Australia’s Great Barrier Reef Isn’t In Danger Yet. Many Environmentalists and Divers Disagree #WorldNEWS
Tony Fontes first went scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef in 1979 on a trip to Australia. Fontes, a native Californian, was so entranced that he decided to stay and work as a dive instructor at Airlie Beach, a coastal resort town in Queensland that serves as a gateway to the reef.
The marine life and the quality of coral was unmatched, he says, and the clarity of the water was a divers dream come true—and thats what sticks with me.
But over the last four decades, the 68-year-old has watched the health of the reef decline. So on Friday, when the U. N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) committee decided to delay a decision to label the reef in danger—following an intensive lobbying effort by the Australian government—Fontes was both surprised and disappointed.
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I thought at last this is going to get the attention of people both within and outside Australia and the reef will get the kind of protection it needs, he says.
Saving the Great Barrier Reef

Stretching some 1,420 miles along northeast coast of Australia, the reef is the world’s largest coral reef ecosystem and can be seen from space. UNESCO first warned in 2014 that an “in danger” listing was being considered for it. A conservation plan bought the Australian government some time, but improvements in the reef’s health havent come quick enough. On June 21, the U. N. body recommended that the Great Barrier Reef be placed on a list of World Heritage sites that are in danger, citing climate change as the most serious threat to the site.

Francois Gohier—VWPics/Universal Images Group/Getting Images Great Barrier Reef, north-east of Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia, Western Pacific Ocean Coral, mostly of the genus Acropora.
The move prompted a fierce backlash from the Australian government. The reef is one of the countrys top tourist spots; it attracted almost three million visitors a year before Australia closed its borders due to the pandemic, bringing in billions of tourism dollars and creating tens of thousands of jobs. That isnt likely to return in a post-pandemic world if the reef is a protected site.
This draft recommendation has been made without examining the reef first hand, and without the latest information,” Sussan Ley, Australia’s minister for the environment, said in a June 22 statement. She noted an investment of billion Australian dollars (about . 2 billion U. S. dollars) in reef protection.
Read More: Australia Is Investing 9 Million in an Effort to Save the Great Barrier Reef
Days later, UNESCO defended its announcement. “It is really a call for action, Mechtild Rössler, director of UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre in Paris, told media during an online briefing.