UNESCO Affirms Australia's Great Barrier Reef Is Threatened With Danger In Today's Memory, June 22, 2021

Coral reefs such as the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Queensland, Australia, support a variety of marine populations in a unique underwater ecosystem. (VLAD61/National Geographic)

JAKARTA Memories of today, three years ago, June 22, 2021, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO confirmed that the Great Barrier Reef (Karang Pemalang Besar) was threatened. Australia's world heritage is reported to have been badly damaged by climate change.

Previously, the Great Barrier Reef, known as the world's largest rock collection, was recognized by UNESCO as a Natural World Heritage in 1981. This condition made Australian tourism increase. Many people want to see the beauty of underwater in the Great Barrier Reef area.

Great Barrier Reef is like a treasure for Australia. The presence of the largest collection of coralstones in the world is able to add to the charm of the Kangaroo Country's marine. The length of Great Barrier Reef stretches up to 2,300 kilometers.

The coral collection is home to thousands of fish species. This beauty is while there is no match in the world. UNESCO was attracted. UNESCO then designated the Great Barrier Reef as a World Heritage in 1981. It is believed that the status is not only a matter of coral beauty, but also for extraordinary biodiversity.

Travelers from within and outside the country are also trying to prove for themselves the claim of Great Barrier Reef as a World Heritage. Many foreign tourists come to Australia and want to see firsthand the beauty of the Great Barrier Reef.

Recently climate change changed everything. Increasing the earth's temperature makes coral reefs stressed. Stressed Karang and susceptible to death. This condition is present throughout the world's oceans, including the Great Barrier Reef.

A collection of corals that used to be beautiful suffered fatal damage. This condition makes the underwater ecosystem even more visible in 2016-2017. Many marine animal species are threatened with extinction.

This extinction will come true if the Australian government does not want to intervene in carrying out an agenda to save the environment. They must be committed to reducing the impact of climate change.

The report confirms that the natural values have been significantly damaged, and the world heritage committee needs to decide whether these values are damaged enough that the Great Barrier Reef is placed on the danger list.

"It would be welcome if the Australian government acknowledged that to protect the Great Barrier Reef, we need to limit global climate change. The problem is that Australia is not on the right track to achieve this and, in reality, there are strong indications that if other countries do the same as Australia," said Head of the WWF-Australian Marine Decree Richard Leck as quoted by The Guardian, December 2, 2019.

The damage suffered by Great Barrier Reef reached UNESCO's ears. The world organization is like having a moral responsibility to keep a large collection of Australian corals back to normal.

UNESCO then designated the Great Barrier Reef as a world heritage that was in danger on June 22, 2021. This status has made the world's attention focused on efforts to save the Great Barrier Reef. UNESCO also threatened to revoke its world heritage status if the Australian government did not intervene.

The threat is because the Australian government is considered the most guilty figure. They are considered unable to maintain the potential of Australian marine wealth. The Australian government simply mentions the damage that occurred in the Great Barrier Reef also occurred in other corals in the world.

"Climate change is the only biggest threat to all ecosystems of the world's coral reefs and there are 83 natural World Heritages facing the threat of climate change, so it's unfair to just vote for Australia. Australia believes that it targets the best managed coral reefs in the world to be on this 'in danger' list," said Australian Environment Minister Sussan Ley as quoted by Kompas.com website, June 22, 2021.