Funding to protect Great Barrier Reef

Australia has pledged A $500 million( about £275 m) to protect the World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef.

In recent years, the reef has lost 30 per cent of its coral due to bleaching linked to rising sea temperatures and damage from crown-of-t horns starfish. The funding will be used to reduce the runoff of agricultural pesticides and improve water quality, including helping farmers near the reef modify their practices.

Listed as a World Heritage site in 1981, coral bleaching in recent years has caused damage to two- thirds of the reef, aerial surveys in 2017 showed.