Unesco has acknowledged the importance of stymied tree-clearing controls in Queensland to efforts to protect the Great Barrier Reef, according to the state’s deputy premier, Jackie Trad. Australia’s reef 2050 long-term sustainability plan, urgently updated with input by the Palaszczuk government after its election, spared the reef an “in-danger” listing by the UN’s world heritage committee last year. “While Unesco provided positive feedback on the work already under way, they recognised the importance of strengthening our vegetation protections laws – one of the Palaszczuk government’s key commitments to protect the Great Barrier Reef,” Trad said. Australia is due to lodge a formal progress report on its reef plan with Unesco’s World Heritage Centre and the International Union for Conservation of Nature in December. The reef suffered its world bleaching event on record this Australian summer, killing off 22% of its coral, according to government agencies.

Source: The Guardian September 27, 2016 06:39 UTC