Great Barrier Reef 'in danger' listing delayed
- In my northern section, coral cover fell from 39.8% to 30% by 2025.
- Researchers Expert panel: Recommended an 'in danger' listing in 2021; the reef had by then had three mass bleaching events.
- Press and investigations Al Jazeera: Reported in July 2021 that the listing was delayed through lobbying. Al Jazeera
- Government and regulators Australian government: No statement of its own on the lobbying is on record in the sources reviewed.
In 2021 an expert panel recommended listing the Great Barrier Reef as 'in danger' under the World Heritage Convention. The World Heritage Committee postponed the decision after the Australian government lobbied its members.
As reported in the sources reviewed; not independently verified.
Status The World Heritage Committee postponed the 'in danger' listing on 23 July 2021; the sources reviewed describe a further decline in northern coral cover by 2025.
- Australian government, coal and tourism — Avoided the 'in danger' listing.
- The reef — Northern coral cover fell from 39.8% to 30% by 2025.
What happened
In 2021 an expert panel recommended that the Great Barrier Reef be placed on the World Heritage 'in danger' list. By then the reef had gone through three mass bleaching events.
Before the vote, the sources reviewed record that Australia's Environment Minister, Sussan Ley, met members of the World Heritage Committee one by one in Paris, and that the government took ambassadors on a snorkelling tour of the reef. One account states that the government lobbied 18 of the committee's 21 members.
On 23 July 2021 the committee postponed the decision. A report was due by February 2022. Al Jazeera, in July 2021, reported the delay as the result of lobbying.
Later reef status is recorded in the sources reviewed as follows: the reef was presented in 2024 as having record coral cover; coral cover in the northern section fell from 39.8% to 30% by 2025.
- 2021Expert panel recommends 'in danger' listing; reef has had three mass bleaching events
- 2021Environment Minister Sussan Ley meets committee members in Paris; ambassadors taken on a snorkelling tour of the reef
- 202123 July: World Heritage Committee postpones the listing decision; report due by February 2022
- 2024Reef presented as having record coral cover
- 2025Northern coral cover falls from 39.8% to 30%
What was said
Where accounts differ
Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.
Recommended an 'in danger' listing in 2021; the reef had by then had three mass bleaching events.
Reported in July 2021 that the listing was delayed through lobbying.
Al JazeeraNo statement of its own on the lobbying is on record in the sources reviewed.
How it looked
Shown
- The reef presented as having record coral cover (2024).Public presentation of the 2024 reef survey
- Ambassadors taken on a snorkelling tour of the reef before the committee vote (2021).Australian government
Recorded
- An expert panel recommended an 'in danger' listing in 2021; the reef had by then had three mass bleaching events.
- The World Heritage Committee postponed the decision on 23 July 2021.
- Northern coral cover fell from 39.8% to 30% by 2025.
In court and with insurers
Lawsuits and rulings
Insurers
What nature saw
Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.
What we don't know
Nature
- Disputed Was the postponement of the 'in danger' listing the result of government lobbying?
Court
- None on record No court case on record.
Accounts
- None on record Australian government: No statement of its own on the lobbying is on record in the sources reviewed.
Record
- None on record The Australian government's own account of the Paris meetings and the ambassadors' reef tour is not on record in the sources reviewed.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: in 2018 the Australian government gave the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, a body with six staff, a grant of A$443.3 million without a tender, decided in 11 working days and paid up front; the national audit office is reported to have found 'deficiencies' in the decision process; press reports say mining and fossil-fuel companies sit on the foundation's paid panel; administrative costs are reported at up to A$86 million.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: the 2025 coral loss in the north and south of the reef was the largest annual loss on record.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: 83.7% of the world's reef area was exposed to bleaching-level heat stress between January 2023 and April 2025.
Did the harm stop?
The listing was postponed on 23 July 2021; the sources reviewed record a further decline in northern coral cover by 2025.
Who paid?
The sources reviewed record the reef as the party that bore the harm; the Australian government, coal and tourism are recorded as the parties that gained.
Sources
Press and investigations
- Report on the delayed 'in danger' listing of the Great Barrier ReefAl Jazeera · 2021-07
Connected cases
- Great Barrier Reef Foundation A$443m grant (Australia) Australia · 2018–2025 Related matter
- Government of Australia (Government) — here: Government that lobbied committee members; there: Grant provider
- Great Barrier Reef Foundation (NGO) — here: Recipient of a reported 2018 government grant (unverified); there: Grant recipient
- African Parks Odzala-Kokoua abuses (Republic of Congo) Republic of Congo · 2010–2025
- UNESCO World Heritage Committee (International organisation) — here: Body that postponed the listing decision; there: Inscribed the Forest Massif of Odzala-Kokoua in September 2023
- Australia and Tuvalu sign Falepili Union with annual ballot for migration visas Tuvalu · 2023
- Government of Australia (Government) — here: Government that lobbied committee members; there: signed the Falepili Union and set the visa ballot
- Nauru and Banaba phosphate mining compensation Nauru · 1920–1993
- Government of Australia (Government) — here: Government that lobbied committee members; there: Reported payer of A$107 million (unverified)
- UNESCO World Heritage listings and Indigenous rights Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda · 1991–2025
- UNESCO World Heritage Committee (International organisation) — here: Body that postponed the listing decision; there: Decision-maker on listings (World Heritage Committee)
- World Court says fossil fuel production may be a wrongful act under international law Global · 2022–2025
- Government of Australia (Government) — here: Government that lobbied committee members; there: respondent to the 2022 finding