Sydney: A UN committee recommended that The Great Barrier Reef should be added to a list of “in danger” World Heritage Sites.
This comes after an angry response from Australia which said it had been blindsided by the move and blamed political interference.
The UN body released a draft report on Monday recommending the reef’s World Heritage status be downgraded because of its dramatic coral decline.
Environmental campaigners said the decision highlighted Australia’s lack of action to curb emissions and brought “shame” on the government.
Australia’s Environment Minister Sussan Ley said Canberra would challenge the recommendation, saying it went against advice given just a week ago, and defended Australia’s protection of the reef.
The latest row is part of an ongoing dispute between Unesco and the Australian government over the status of the iconic site.
The reef, stretching for 2,300km (1,400 miles) off Australia’s north-east coast, gained World Heritage ranking in 1981 for its “enormous scientific and intrinsic importance”.
After Unesco first debated its “in danger” status in 2017, Canberra committed more than A$3 billion (£1.bn; $2.2bn) to improving the reef’s health.
However, several bleaching events on the reef in the past five years have caused widespread loss of coral.
Scientists say the main reason is rising sea temperatures as a result of global warming caused by the burning of fossil fuels.
