Decision 46 COM 7B.62

Great Barrier Reef (Australia) (N 154)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/24/46.COM/7B.Add,
2. Recalling Decision 45 COM 7B.13 adopted at its extend 45th session (Riyadh, 2023),
3. Notes with utmost concern the continued threat to the property posed by climate change, and the negative impacts on its Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) suffered through mass bleaching events, including the most recent and ongoing event in 2023-2024, and reiterates that securing the resilience of the property is of essential importance to give it the best chance to withstand the effects of climate change;
4. Welcomes the delivery of mapped priority areas for gully repairs, the commencement of a comprehensive programme to repair and restore gullies of the highest priority and the significant increases in compliance activity across sugarcane, banana and cattle farmers and urgently requests the State Party to maintain its efforts toward achieving the 2025 water quality targets, in particular for sediment and dissolved inorganic nitrogen, in line with the 2022 joint World Heritage Centre/IUCN Reactive Monitoring mission recommendations and the commitments made by the State Party in 2023;
5. Notes with serious concern the remaining high rates of land clearing which are deemed inconsistent with the objectives set out to achieve the water quality targets, and requests the State Party to take urgent action to:
   1. Continue early detection and intervention to halt illegal land clearing,
   2. Strengthen clauses under existing laws to ensure that all remnant and high value growth areas are protected, including category X vegetation (under the Queensland Vegetation Management Act), and other high priority areas including riparian zones, lands vulnerable to degradation and areas contributing to sediment and nitrogen pollution;
6. Welcomes the process to update the Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan (WQIP) is on track for delivery in 2025, and urges the State Party to ensure that water quality targets, and actions implemented through the WQIP are sufficiently ambitious to ensure the OUV of the property is not further adversely impacted by low water quality;
7. Commends the State Party on its decisive action to phase out gillnet fishing in the property, and requests the State Party to ensure that the property is fully gillnet free by mid-2027 at the latest, that new Net-Free Zones in key habitats for species that represent attributes of OUV are established, and that all aspects of the Queensland Sustainable Fisheries Strategy are fully implemented;
8. Notes with appreciation the climate change addendum to the Reef 2050 Plan, and requests the State Party to ensure the Plan is effectively implemented to limit the impacts of climate change on the property, and to set further ambitious targets to limit temperature increases to 1.5° C above pre-industrial levels and align its policies accordingly;
9. Requests the State Party to maintain adaptation programmes, including the ‘Crown-of-Thorns Starfish Control Program’ and the ‘Reef Joint Field Management Program’, and increase funding for innovation and scaling up of priority solutions;
10. Finally requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1  February 2025, a report on progress achieved in the implementation of the above, and including the impacts of the 2023/24 bleaching event, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 47th session, and an updated report on the state of conservation of the property by 1  February 2026, for examination by the Committee at its 48th session.