Australia has gained the support of oil-rich Saudi Arabia and Bahrain in its lobbying effort to keep the Great Barrier Reef off a list of world heritage sites in danger. The world heritage committee will begin a 15-day meeting on Friday with a decision on the Great Barrier Reef currently scheduled for 23 July. David Cazzulino, the Great Barrier Reef campaigner at the Australian Marine Conservation Society, said Australia was being forced “to find friends with other fossil fuel polluters”. A federal government spokesperson said Ley was “conducting a number of meetings which reflect Australia’s ongoing concern about the draft world heritage listing”. The commonwealth was providing $2.08bn of the $3.05bn funding under the Reef 2050 plan and was “committed to ongoing funding strategies to protect the reef and its world heritage status”.

Source: The Guardian July 14, 2021 05:37 UTC