GREAT BARRIER REEF

Australian officials argued against UNESCO's recommendation to put the Great Barrier Reef on the endangered species list.

The U.N.-backed report said it “sympathizes with” concerns that labeling the World Heritage Site as endangered could impact vital tourism.

Australia's environment minister says her government will urge against the U.N. adding the Great Barrier Reef to a list of endangered sites, saying worries are a reflection of the previous government.

Australia’s environment minister says her government will lobby against UNESCO adding the Great Barrier Reef to a list of endangered World Heritage sites, arguing that criticisms of government inaction on climate change are outdated.

A United Nations-backed mission is recommending that the Great Barrier Reef be added to the list of endangered World Heritage sites, sounding the alarm that without “ambitious, rapid and sustained” climate action the world’s largest coral reef is in peril

A United Nations-backed mission is recommending that the Great Barrier Reef be added to the list of endangered World Heritage sites, sounding the alarm that without “ambitious, rapid and sustained” climate action the world’s largest coral reef is in peril.

Underwater gardens, where coral fragments are grown, are among the efforts to help save reefs from climate change.

Scientists are developing a new method that uses satellite images to assess how coral reefs fare amid climate change.

Unfortunately, the Great Barrier Reef is still vulnerable, as in the southern region it decreased from 38% to 34%.

Australia's Great Barrier Reef has suffered from widespread and severe bleaching because of rising ocean temperatures.

Australia’s new government plans to prevent development of a coal mine because of its potential impact on the nearby Great Barrier Reef.

Parts of the Great Barrier Reef have recorded their highest levels of coral cover since the 1980s, but scientists say climate change could undo the recovery.

While higher water temperatures led to a coral bleaching event in some areas in March, the temperatures did not climb high enough to kill the coral, according to the Australian government.

Parts of the reef see the most coral growth in 36 years - but it is highly vulnerable to threats.

Australian scientists confirm the mass bleaching, yet are hopeful the world's largest coral reef ecosystem can recover.

Australian government scientists say 91% of the Great Barrier Reef coral surveyed this year was bleached in the fourth mass event in seven years

Australian government scientists say 91% of the Great Barrier Reef coral surveyed this year was bleached in the fourth mass event in seven years.

Earth's largest living structure may be heading for its sixth mass bleaching event since 1997. The bleaching is caused by unusually warm sea temperatures.

A United Nations report is painting a dire picture of the Great Barrier Reef’s future

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The Australian government has pledged to spend another 1 billion Australian dollars ($704 million) over nine years on improving the health of the Great Barrier Reef after stalling a UNESCO decision on downgrading the natural wonder’s World Heritage status.

Known for the cape-like webs enclosing its tentacles, the blanket octopus is a rarely spotted animal usually found in open ocean waters.

Australia's Great Barrier Reef is spawning in an explosion of color as the World Heritage-listed natural wonder recovers from life-threatening coral bleaching episodes in 2016, 2017 and last year.

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is spawning in an explosion of color as the World Heritage-listed natural wonder recovers from life-threatening coral bleaching episodes.

Scientists say recent pledges by nations at the Glasgow climate talks will pay off but only just a bit

Australia's natural wonder faces a battle to survive - here's a simple guide.

Australia has garnered enough international support to defer an attempt by the United Nations’ cultural organization to downgrade the Great Barrier Reef’s World Heritage status because of damage caused by climate change.

Australia on Friday garnered enough international support to defer for two years an attempt by the United Nations’ cultural organization to downgrade the Great Barrier Reef’s World Heritage status because of damage caused by climate change. UNESCO had recommended that its World Heritage Committee add the world’s largest coral reef ecosystem off the northeast Australian coast to the World Heritage in Danger list, mainly due to rising ocean temperatures. In the meantime, a monitoring mission will visit the reef to determine how the impact of climate change can be managed.

The Chinese host of this year’s meeting of the U.N. World Heritage Committee is defending its proposal to label the Great Barrier Reef as “in danger” against Australian government suspicion that China influenced the finding for political reasons.

The Chinese host of this year's meeting of the U.N, World Heritage Committee on Sunday defended the body's proposal to label the Great Barrier Reef as “in danger” against Australian government suspicion that China influenced the finding for political reasons. The committee, which is meeting both virtually and in the Chinese city of Fuzhou for the next two weeks, will consider the draft decision on Friday. “Australia, as a member state of the World Heritage Committee, should ... attach importance to the opinions of the advisory bodies and earnestly fulfill the duty of World Heritage protection instead of making groundless accusations against other states,” said Tian Xuejun, the Chinese vice minister of education and the president of this year's session.

A draft report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns that unless drastic and immediate action is taken to limit greenhouse gas emissions and keep global temperatures from rising further, life on earth is poised for a catastrophic reckoning.

The United Nations says the Great Barrier Reef has suffered such extensive damage that it should be listed as "in danger." The Australian disagrees.

The Senate’s work on an elections bill overhaul and changes being offered by Sen. Joe Manchin are a “step forward,” the White House said Monday.

Australia says it will fight against plans to downgrade the Great Barrier Reef’s World Heritage status due to climate change, while environmentalists are applauding the U.N. World Heritage Committee’s proposal.

The Great Barrier Reef should be added to a list of "in danger" World Heritage Sites, a UN committee recommended on Tuesday, prompting an angry response from Australia which said it had been blindsided by the move and blamed political interference. The long-term outlook for the world's biggest coral reef system had deteriorated and action was needed to counter the effects of climate change, said the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization committee, which sits under UNES

The Australian government says it is "stunned" by the UN body's recommendation and will oppose it.

Hotter oceans are putting coral reefs in peril worldwide. Scientists are warning that to save them, heat-trapping emissions must fall, and reefs will need more protection and restoration.

A leading conservation agency is warning that climate change is damaging the U.N.' most cherished heritage sites. Sixteen World Heritage sites have deteriorated since the last World Heritage Outlook was released three years ago, while only eight improved, said the International Union for Conservation of Nature, made up of governments and civil society groups and advises UNESCO on natural threats to those sites. “Natural World Heritage sites are amongst the world’s most precious places, and we owe it to future generations to protect them,” IUCN Director-General Bruno Oberle said. It said while 63% of the heritage sites are classified as “good” or “good with some concerns,” 30% are of “significant concern” and 7% are in “critical” shape. ___Read all of AP’s stories about climate change at https://apnews.com/hub/Climate.

Canberra, Australia A shark bit off a British tourist's foot and mauled another British tourist's leg on Tuesday as the men snorkeled on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, officials said. The men, aged 22 and 28, were on a snorkeling tour in the Whitsunday Islands when they were attacked, tour organizer ZigZag Whitsundays said. This image shows a helicopter and ambulances in the rescue of two tourists attacked by a shark near Airlie Beach, Australia. A shark killed a man in November last year in a Whitsunday Island harbor where two tourists had been mauled a month earlier. In September last year, two Australian tourists were mauled on consecutive days, one a 12-year-old girl who lost a leg.

We could just see the edge where it went back to regular water -- shiny water -- at night," Michael added, saying they could see the rock from every direction. The pumice, which is filled with holes and cavities, floats like an iceberg does, with about 90% underwater and 10% above water, the pair explained. When the pumice makes its way to the Great Barrier Reef, the sea life attached will travel too, potentially bringing diverse new colonies of barnacles, corals and more. "This is a way for healthy, young corals to be rapidly introduced to the Great Barrier Reef," he said. In 2016 and 2017, marine heat waves caused by climate change resulted in mass bleaching, which killed about half of the corals on the Great Barrier Reef, along with many others around the world.