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Australia marked the draft decision of the United Nations World Heritage Committee to include the Great Barrier Reef on its “dangerous” list as politically motivated.
The committee, chaired by Tian Xuejun, Vice Minister of Education of China, chose the UNESCO World Heritage Site and proposed to include the world’s largest collection of coral reefs on the danger list because Devastating impact Climate change and coastal development.
The designation may eventually cause the coral reef to lose its World Heritage status, although officials said that the listing is intended to prompt urgent action to protect the biological structure that stretches 2,300 kilometers along the east coast of Australia.
But Sussan Ley, Australia’s environment minister, stated that the government “turned a blind eye” to the commission’s findings and claimed that there was a lack of consultation and transparency. She added that Canberra will challenge the draft decision.
“If the procedure is not followed, the procedure is reversed 5 minutes before the publication of the draft decision, and when the guarantee my officials received and the guarantee I did get are overturned, what conclusion can you draw, but this is politics?” she Say.
The World Heritage Committee is chaired by a senior Chinese official. This has aroused suspicion in Canberra that it is due to diplomacy and Trade conflict with Beijing.
China-Australia relations deteriorated after Canberra last year called for an investigation into the origin of Covid-19 and Beijing imposed tariffs on Australian wine and barley imports.
Ley said that she and Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne had already talked with UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay on the draft decision.
But scientists have played down the statement “in danger” Checklist It is politically motivated. They said that the three large-scale bleaching incidents in five years showed that the government needs to take more measures to deal with climate change.
“I have seen some news reports that this is a conspiracy by China not to buy alcohol, not to buy lobsters, and to destroy the Great Barrier Reef. Considering that the draft decision to be released overnight will be voted on by 21 countries, I think this is quite far-fetched,” James Cook Said Terry Hughes, professor of marine biology at the university.
The dispute will further expand the international Pressure in Canberra, The United States, the United Kingdom and other countries have urged them to commit to the national goal of net zero emissions by 2050.
In a draft decision scheduled to be voted on next month, the committee urged Canberra to “make a clear commitment to address the threat of climate change and accelerate the achievement of water quality goals in accordance with the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement.”
It pointed out that after the “bleaching” event in 2016, the shallow-water coral cover almost disappeared by a third-a process related to higher-than-normal water temperature, which may cause a large amount of Coral death.
The dispute over the “at risk” list occurred during a difficult period for the Australian Conservative Alliance, which was embroiled in an internal dispute over climate policy.
On Monday, climate skeptic and coal mining supporter Barnaby Joyce ousted Michael McCormack and became the leader of the National Party, a junior coalition partner of the Liberal Party and the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia. Joyce is expected to oppose any move that promises to achieve net zero by 2050.
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