UN: Great Barrier Reef Should Be on Heritage ‘Danger’ List

In this undated photo provided by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, the Great Barrier Reef near the Whitsunday, Australia, region is viewed from the air. (Jumbo Aerial Photography/Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority via AP)

A United Nations-backed mission is recommending 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. 

The warning came in a report published Monday following a 10-day mission to the reef last March by officials from UNESCO and the International Union for Conservation of Nature.