By Rhea Mogul, CNN
Updated 3:46 AM ET, Fri January 28, 2022
The Great Barrier Reef is home to more than 1,500 types of fish, over 400 kinds of hard corals and dozens of other species.
The Australian government on Friday pledged 1 billion Australian dollars ($700 million) to protect the Great Barrier Reef, months after it narrowly avoided being placed on the UN's cultural agency's "danger" list due to the threat of climate change.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison unveiled the nearly decade-long conservation package days ahead of a February 1 deadline set by UNESCO to submit a report on the reef's state of conservation.
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"We are backing the health of the reef and the economic future of tourism operators, hospitality providers and Queensland communities that are at the heart of the reef economy," Morrison said in a statement.
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The reef has lost 50% of its coral populations in the last three decades, according to a study published in October 2020 by researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies.
In a report published in June last year, a UNESCO monitoring mission said that despite the Australian government's work to improve the reef's situation, "there is no possible doubt that the property is facing ascertained danger."
But the Australian government has strongly objected to that conclusion. Environment Minister Sussan Ley flew to Europe last July as part of a last-ditch attempt to convince the other members of the World Heritage to vote against the measure. Australia is currently part of the 21-country rotating committee.
