Great Barrier Reef not endangered: UNESCO

The Great Barrier Reef has been left off UNESCO's "in danger" list following a meeting of its World Heritage Committee.

In this undated photo provided by ARC Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, fish swims around healthy coral on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia Source: ARC Center of Excellence

It endorsed the federal government's Reef 2050 Plan, which lists a series of measures designed to protect and manage the ecosystem.

But Greenpeace campaigner Alix Foster Vander Elst hit out at the decision and said while the government had been spared the embarrassment of having the reef listed as in danger, it's strategy would not work because it did not address climate change.

“When the Government is spending fifty five times more on fossil fuel subsidies than on its much-touted Reef 2050 plan, it’s quite clear what its priorities really are," she said.

"The Carmichael mine is a climate bomb that endangers the Reef and defies the Paris climate agreement."

Ms Foster Vander Elst said environmental campaigners intended to make climate change an issue at the G20 meeting later this week. 

“We intend to hold the Australian government as well as all G20 nations to account for their climate action as they meet in Germany this week. The state of the Reef can be no greater a reminder for stronger, and more urgent climate action," she said.