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Speaker 1: My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda

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Speaker 1: Bungelung Calcuttin woman from Gadighl country. The Daily oz acknowledges

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Speaker 1: that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the

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Speaker 1: Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres

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Speaker 1: Strait Island and nations. We pay our respects to the

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Speaker 1: first peoples of these countries, both past and present.

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Speaker 2: Good morning and welcome to the Daily os It's Wednesday,

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Speaker 2: the second of August.

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Speaker 3: I'm Zara Seidler, I'm Sam Kozlowski.

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Speaker 2: UNESCO has delayed its decision to classify the Great Barrier

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Speaker 2: Reef as in danger. While the government has been quick

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Speaker 2: to claim this as a win.

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Speaker 3: This confirms my government is working hard to protect the reef,

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Speaker 3: is acting on climate change, and that the rest of

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Speaker 3: the world has of course taken notice.

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Speaker 2: This doesn't mean the Great Barrier Reef is in the clear,

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Speaker 2: with UNESCO noting concerning cases of recent mass coral bleaching.

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Speaker 2: So what's going on with a reef and what does

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Speaker 2: UNESCO's deceis actually mean. We'll let you know in the

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Speaker 2: deep dive. But first m there were some big news

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Speaker 2: from the RBA yesterday.

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Speaker 3: That's right. They decided to keep the cash rate on

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Speaker 3: hold at four point one percent. It's the second month

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Speaker 3: in a row that rates have been kept on hold.

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Speaker 3: RBA Governor Philip Lowe says inflation is still too high

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Speaker 3: but welcomed signs its declining. He hasn't ruled out further

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Speaker 3: rate rises in coming months.

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Speaker 2: At least seventeen people have died from heat related causes

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Speaker 2: in South Korea. It's according to authorities. Much of the

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Speaker 2: country remains under a heat wave warning.

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Speaker 3: The US is averaging two mass shootings a day so

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Speaker 3: far this year, with the country on track to meet

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Speaker 3: or surpass the previous record for the most mass shootings

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Speaker 3: in a year. Gun violence Archived data shows there have

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Speaker 3: been four hundred and twenty one mass shootings in twenty

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Speaker 3: twenty three in the country so far.

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Speaker 2: And the good news, more than two million ossies tuned

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Speaker 2: in to watch the Matilda's four nil win over Canada

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Speaker 2: in round three of the group stages at the Women's

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Speaker 2: World Cup. The game was the most watched Matilda's game

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Speaker 2: of the tournament and the most watched Channel seven broadcast

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Speaker 2: of the year so far. UNESCO has announced that the

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Speaker 2: Great Barrier Reef will not be officially classified as in

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Speaker 2: danger this year, but that doesn't mean that the reef

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Speaker 2: is safe, though UNESCO has noted serious concerns about mass

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Speaker 2: coral bleaching events and water quality.

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Speaker 3: It was one of the moments where the realities of

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Speaker 3: climate change felt the most real to me when I

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Speaker 3: was diving on the Great Barrier Reef and saw bleached coral.

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Speaker 3: I was there to investigate what two degrees of warming

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Speaker 3: would look like, and you could really see it. So

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Speaker 3: I'm keen for this discussion today to understand the nuances. Firstly,

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Speaker 3: what is this list and why is UNESCO making this

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Speaker 3: decision about an Australian reef.

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Speaker 2: I think to answer that, we need to just take

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Speaker 2: a step back. So UNESCO's a un body and it

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Speaker 2: maintains a list of over a thousand areas of natural

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Speaker 2: and cultural significance. So obviously if your country has a

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Speaker 2: site on that list, it's a really good thing this

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Speaker 2: World Heritage list, because it'll have the benefits of tourism

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Speaker 2: and employment opportunities. You know, you've got these wonders of

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Speaker 2: the world in your country and that's a really great thing.

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Speaker 2: But being on the list also comes with responsibilities to

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Speaker 2: actually preserve those locations. So UNESCO uses what's called an

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Speaker 2: in danger label for locations it deems to be under

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Speaker 2: existential threat. Now Australia has twenty locations on the World's

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Speaker 2: Heritage List. None are currently classified as in danger, which

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Speaker 2: is obviously a good thing. Some examples of sites that

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Speaker 2: are deemed as in danger are some war damaged historical sites,

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Speaker 2: so places in Afghanistan and Iraq, and also in the

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Speaker 2: Sumatra and Congo rainforests.

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Speaker 3: So it's obviously a pretty big development if an Australian

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Speaker 3: site has then been considered for that classification, talk to

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Speaker 3: me about how we got to this point.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I don't think it's news to anybody

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Speaker 2: that there are concerns about the conservation of the Great

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Speaker 2: Barrier Reef. Again, you're not alone in that being the

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Speaker 2: kind of visual representation. I think that's the thing with

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Speaker 2: climate change. It's often abstract for a lot of people,

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Speaker 2: and then when you go to the Barrier Reef, it

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Speaker 2: is physically there in front of you that bleaching and

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Speaker 2: UNESCO has obviously recognized that too, So in twenty twenty

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Speaker 2: one it released a draft report that recommended classifying the

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Speaker 2: reef as in danger. The report said that despite efforts

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Speaker 2: and achievements by the state and federal governments at the time,

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Speaker 2: key targets on improving water quality had not been met.

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Speaker 4: A lot of people waking up and discovering that the

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Speaker 4: reef is in danger according to UNESCO, and wondering why

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Speaker 4: on earth the federal government would be opposing that analysis

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Speaker 4: of it.

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Speaker 2: Susan Lee, who was the Environment Minister at the time.

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Speaker 2: She was of course from the coalition government, said that

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Speaker 2: her government would challenge UNESCO's recommendation.

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Speaker 5: I know, I recognize climate change is the biggest threat

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Speaker 5: to the reef, but this is not the forum in

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Speaker 5: which to express that view, and we made the point

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Speaker 5: that we will challenge this decision when it comes before

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Speaker 5: the full committee later on in July.

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Speaker 2: And the government did a few things after that announcement

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Speaker 2: to challenge UNESCO's recommendation. I remember that time really clearly

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Speaker 2: because there were a whole host of announcements made about

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Speaker 2: the Great Barrier Reef by the government of the day.

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Speaker 2: So they did things like invite a United Nations delegation

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Speaker 2: to come visit the reef to assess its health. And

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Speaker 2: then the Coalition also announced a one billion dollar funding

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Speaker 2: package to help protect the reef.

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Speaker 3: I remember I was actually on the reef that week

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Speaker 3: really LESCo. Oh yeah, people went and they were in

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Speaker 3: an unmarked boat because they were so worried about interference

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Speaker 3: from tourism operators or protesters. It was quite a tense

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Speaker 3: time in such a serene place. So they introduced some measures.

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Speaker 3: What happened after that.

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Speaker 2: Despite the government's efforts, UNESCO once again recommended that the

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Speaker 2: reef be placed on the endanger list at the end

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Speaker 2: of last year, and the report acknowledge that Australia had

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Speaker 2: made unparalleled science and management efforts to protect the reef,

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Speaker 2: but concluded it's significantly impacted by climate change. It criticized

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Speaker 2: Australia's lack of clear climate change targets and suggested Australia

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Speaker 2: could take further steps to protect the reef that would

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Speaker 2: drastically improve reef conservation.

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Speaker 3: Now, in the time between that first UNESCO recommendation and

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Speaker 3: the second UNESCO recommendation, we had a change in government.

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Speaker 3: We moved from a coalition government to a labor government.

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Speaker 3: How did this new labor government respond well.

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Speaker 2: Tanya Plebisek, who's our current environment minister, like Susan Lee

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Speaker 2: before her, challenged UNESCO on their recommendation, saying that there

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Speaker 2: was no need to single out the Great Barrier Reef.

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Speaker 6: The reason that the UNESCO in the past has singled

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Speaker 6: out are places at risk is because they wanted to

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Speaker 6: see greater government investment or greater government action, and since

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Speaker 6: the change of government, both of those things have happened.

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Speaker 2: The Albanese government has made some changes since UNESCO's last update,

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Speaker 2: including a legislative target of forty three percent emissions reduction

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Speaker 2: by twenty thirty and we've done a number of podcasts

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Speaker 2: on that, so if you need a refresher, head to

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Speaker 2: our show notes. And there have been some other developments too,

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Speaker 2: like Tanya plibersex decision to block a coal mine in

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Speaker 2: central Queensland over concerns specifically about the Great Barrier Reef.

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Speaker 2: And there have also been two proposed dams that have

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Speaker 2: also been rejected on the same basis.

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Speaker 3: So all of that brings us to the news this week.

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Speaker 3: What did we hear from UNESCO in the last few days.

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Speaker 2: So UNESCO has delayed its decision to list the Great

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Speaker 2: Barrier Reef as in danger, recognizing that the government has

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Speaker 2: made significant progress. This was of course welcomed by the

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Speaker 2: Environment Minister Tanya Pilibersec.

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Speaker 6: Look, this is a very important acknowledgment of the difference

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Speaker 6: that our government's policies have made to the reef.

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Speaker 2: But as much as this decision is being celebrated by

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Speaker 2: the government as a win for them, UNESCO has warned

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Speaker 2: that the health of the reef is still a matter

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Speaker 2: of utmost concern. So it's not like just because the

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Speaker 2: reef hasn't been classified right now doesn't mean that the

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Speaker 2: concern has gone any.

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Speaker 3: It doesn't mean it's healthy.

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Speaker 6: No.

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Speaker 2: UNESCO's expressed concern about slow progress to improve water quality,

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Speaker 2: like I said, and about the increased frequency of bleaching events.

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Speaker 2: Australia is by no means off the hook. We're required

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Speaker 2: to submit another progress update on the reef's health next

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Speaker 2: February and that will guide further considerations of an endanger classifications.

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Speaker 2: So we're essentially going to go through the same process then.

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Speaker 3: Okay, so in danger not in danger, reports, classifications, reviews,

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Speaker 3: changes of government. At the end of the day, what

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Speaker 3: does all of this really mean.

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Speaker 2: I think that this just means that while there's no

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Speaker 2: label being given to the state of the Great Barrier

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Speaker 2: Reef right now, it is acknowledging that the is in trouble.

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Speaker 2: UNESCO's acknowledging that the government's acknowledging that. Will check back

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Speaker 2: in February to see what UNESCO decides then. But I

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Speaker 2: do think that at the end of the day, the

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Speaker 2: thing to keep in mind is that as long as

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Speaker 2: this process is ongoing, there is going to be considerable

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Speaker 2: pressure on the government to keep demonstrating they're doing the

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Speaker 2: best they can even as the pressures of climate change continue.

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Speaker 2: They've literally got someone surveying their progress on a recurring basis.

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Speaker 2: And we often say that it's hard to legislate around

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Speaker 2: climate change because there's nobody, you know, enforcing it at

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Speaker 2: a higher level. Well, this is one of those cases

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Speaker 2: where there is some of that pressure.

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Speaker 3: It can all be quite overwhelming talking about this kind

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Speaker 3: of stuff. And I've spent a lot of time looking

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Speaker 3: at the reef and you know, writing pieces about it

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Speaker 3: for TDA. Perhaps if I can just end with one

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Speaker 3: glimmer of hope, there's some really interesting science happening on

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Speaker 3: the reef, with people in mainland Australia, in Cans or

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Speaker 3: outside Cans who are making these artificial fish tanks filled

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Speaker 3: with all the different varieties of coral to actually replant

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Speaker 3: the reef one day. And so shout out to all

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Speaker 3: those who are working on creative solutions and using human

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Speaker 3: ingenuity to figure out a solution.

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Speaker 2: Love it. Thanks for joining us today on the Daily OS.

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Speaker 2: If you enjoyed what you heard, leave us a review

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Speaker 2: on Spotify. We love reading these. Somebody said yesterday, this

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Speaker 2: episode really gave me an insight into what's going on

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Speaker 2: behind the scenes and what we don't hear about. Great episode.

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Speaker 2: Shout out to you Drama, whoever you might be. Thanks

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Speaker 2: for leaving the comment, and others can do the same

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Speaker 2: by just going onto the Spotify app and clicking under.

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Speaker 3: Q and A drama.

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Speaker 2: We will see you again tomorrow.