Great Barrier Reef heritage status reconsidered by UNESCO

Australia faces a dent to its reputation and a potentially devastating blow to its tourism industry should one of the country's most iconic natural wonders, the Great Barrier Reef, be listed as "in danger" by the United Nations.

 

                The world's largest coral reef system is the blessed with breathtaking beauty

Tony Fontes loves diving the waters around Queensland's Whitsunday Islands.

In a career spanning three decades, the diving operator has introduced countless others to the magical underworld that is the Great Barrier Reef.

But he has also watched its decline.

The waters are now milkier and the coral quality poorer. Increasing attacks by crown-of-thorns starfish have left swathes of reef brown and lifeless.

Danger point

Unesco believes the Australian site is worth saving because it contains the world's largest collection of coral reefs, along with 1,500 species of fish and 4,000 types of molluscs.

But it is worried that threats to the reef's health - from overdevelopment, pollution and climate change - have reached a dangerous point.

The reef system has lost 50% of its coral in the past 30 years.