UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee has ordered a full review of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef management in 2026, following the sixth mass bleaching event in nine years and severe coastal flooding.

The Australian and the Queensland government have a lot of work to do to keep the Great Barrier Reef off the World Heritage 'In Danger' list, the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) said after UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre released its draft decision yesterday.

Overnight, the Australian and Queensland governments submitted their report to UNESCO on their progress to protect the Great Barrier Reef. The Australian Marine Conservation Society says governments must dramatically lift their climate targets to protect the Reef.

With echoes of the eights students and a nun who took the government to court over the Vickery coal mine expansion in northern New South Wales, three young Queenslanders are pushing to protect the Great Barrier Reef by writing to UNESCO.

The 44th session of the World Heritage Committee will meet online from 16-30 July and the 21 members will decide whether to ratify UNESCO’s science-based recommendation to add the Reef to the ‘In Danger’ list

Six Northern Rivers artists will travel to Mongolia in July to perform in support of a UNESCO World Heritage application to protect a lake.

Professor Michelle Simmons from UNSW and Associate Professor Muireann Irish from the University of Sydney are both being recognised for their contribution to science in Paris, France today.