An advisory body of the UNESCO world heritage committee has found that climate change threatens a third of the world’s natural heritage sites, including five within Australia.
The conditions of the sites, which include the Great Barrier Reef, Blue Mountains, Gondwana Rainforests, Shark Bay, and Ningaloo Coast, have all worsened significantly in the past three years, with the Great Barrier Reef now in critical condition.
Coral reef scientist Terry Hughes has criticised these rankings, however, saying that while it is correct that the Great Barrier Reef is in critical condition, all coral reefs should be classed as such due to ongoing climate change effects.