Fantastic news! The next time the UNESCO World Heritage Committee votes on the fate of the Great Barrier Reef, it will be meeting in the greenest of major economy nations, Germany.
So in June 2015, the Australian Government will face its World Heritage moment of truth when the twice-postponed decision on declaring the Reef as ‘World Heritage in Danger’ comes up for a third and final time.
Last night in Qatar the committee locked in behind a UNESCO expert report to express ‘concern’ and ‘regret’ about the threats being inflicted on the Reef’s ‘Outstanding Universal Value’ to allow dredging and dumping for new coal ports.
This is a real slap for the Australian Government, which has gone all out to convince the world that it is protecting the Reef, even while allowing giant new coal mines and port developments, slashing climate action, and weakening environmental laws.
Germany, which will host the 39 th annual session of the committee in 12 months time, was a leader among the 21 nations on the committee in standing up for the Reef. The German delegation said: ‘The Great Barrier Reef is one of the most significant properties on the World Heritage list.’
1 Million Women is absolutely delighted that the final decision will be made in Germany. Not only is it one of the world’s leading green nations, with amazing achievements in renewable energy, but it also features real ‘women power’ in its politics and diplomatic representation and the German people love World Heritage.
Germany also is genuinely powerful in UNESCO and United Nations circles, with a seat on the UN’s Executive Board and being the third largest national funder of the World Heritage Fund.
In Qatar there was some initial wavering by a small number of countries, but in the end the Australian and Queensland governments failed totally in their efforts to have the diplomatic sword of the World Heritage ‘shame list’ lifted from their necks.
This was always a three-year process, after international alarm about the environmentally parlous state of the Reef blew up in 2012, and it was expected that a final decision would be put off in both 2013 and 2014, as has happened.
Over 20,000 signed on to our call for the World Heritage Committee to protect the Reef, indeed the total is still growing, and last night the planet had a win because the future of this natural wonder of the world is a global concern.
1 Million Women won’t be letting our ‘IM Declaring the Reef in Danger’ campaign rest. We now have another whole year to rally women and girls in Australia and around the world to stand up for the Reef.
The Reef really is in grave danger, having lost over half of its coral cover since it was declared as World Heritage in 1981. Now climate change threatens even more harm.
Thank you everyone who has supported our campaign. Let’s keep on fighting for the Reef. And bring on Germany 2015!