Canberra left high and dry by its Great Barrier Reef claim

Canberra’s allegation that Beijing is behind a UNESCO recommendation to place the Great Barrier Reef on its endangered list is simply absurd.

The loss of billions of dollars each year in tourism revenue from the World Heritage site, which will have to be closed for tourists if it is regarded as endangered, is the main reason that Canberra is trying to prevent the recommendation from being adopted by UNESCO.

And it is because the 44th session of the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO is being held in Fuzhou, Fujian province, from Friday to July 31, that Australia is trying to claim that Beijing is somehow behind the recommendation, which has been made by experts based on reports and data provided by Australia itself that say pollution runoff has contributed to the loss, along with other reasons. The reef, which stretches 2,300 kilometers, has lost half of its coral since 1995.

By attributing the recommendation to Beijing and the coral loss to climate change, hinting that as long as global warming cannot be checked the disappearing of the reef is inevitable, Canberra has merely highlighted that it is hell-bent on milking the natural wonder for every dollar it can until the reef takes its final breath.

And its attempts to politicize the UNESCO session, which has been extended to go over both this year’s agenda and that of last year, when the meeting was postponed because of the novel coronavirus outbreak, have exposed its hypocrisy as a so-called model of an environmentally friendly country and a defender of the rules-based international order.

The UNESCO meeting adopted a Fuzhou Declaration on Sunday calling for closer international cooperation to better protect world heritage sites. The declaration points out that, as cultural and natural treasures, world heritage sites make a positive contribution to the promotion of exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations and world peace and sustainable development. The declaration emphasizes that the protection of world heritage sites is a shared responsibility of all countries.

In the congratulatory message he sent to the meeting on Friday, President Xi Jinping expressed in an unequivocal way that China is committed to protecting the world’s cultural and natural treasures and willing to work with all countries across the globe as well as UNESCO to strengthen exchanges and cooperation to support the cause of world heritage protection.

The world looks to a similar responsible attitude from Australia. The world’s heritage should be protected and passed down to future generations. Heritage sites should not be regarded as simply cash cows for individual countries.