A sustained strategy was developed by the government and approved by the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, in December 2023 after the committee had warned in September the reef would be considered for the “in-danger” list at its next meeting in July 2024.
Plibersek said the government was “proud of the work we’ve done to better protect the Great Barrier Reef, and pleased that UNESCO has acknowledged that work”.
She said Labor had invested $1.2bn to better protect the reef and doubled funding for reef science.
The strategy outlined how Australia would target meetings with newer members of the committee, would meet in person and virtually with Unesco and its advisers and identified opportunities in other international meetings to put its case that it was doing its utmost to protect the reef.
Australia’s election to the executive board of Unesco the previous month would provide “an additional avenue to promote Australia’s World Heritage interests”, the strategy said.
In November 2023, the Australian government also appointed a full-time Paris-based ambassador to Unesco, Greer Alblas. The documents show Alblas was regularly engaged on the reef issues and had met with other Unesco ambassadors, where she pushed for “a fair, consistent and transparent approach to climate affected World Heritage properties”.
In May, a cable reported on one meeting Alblas had with Unesco’s World Heritage Centre in Paris, where she said: “Instead of singling the Great Barrier Reef with a threat of in Danger listing, we should be showcasing what managing World Heritage properties in an uncertain climate future looks like when it is done well.”
Widespread mass bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef’s coral was first observed in 1998 and again in 2002, 2016, 2017, 2020 and 2022. Last summer’s bleaching was the most widespread with some areas seeing high levels of coral death.
Dr Lissa Schindler, the Great Barrier Reef campaign manager at the Australian Marine Conservation Society, said: “The government views an in danger listing as a penalty against their international reputation. The documents show a strong focus on shaping perceptions, including managing criticism of Australia’s climate policies and fossil fuel exports. It’s clear they saw this as a high-stakes issue.
“The government’s focus on lobbying while the reef was undergoing its worst bleaching event on record in 2024 is troubling. Lobbying may delay an ‘in-danger’ listing, but it doesn’t address the root causes of the reef’s decline.”