UK, Australia brace for Unesco world heritage rulings on city of Liverpool and the Great Barrier Reef

Great Barrier Reef could be added to list of World Heritage sites at risk, and Liverpool, already on the list, could lose Unesco status at China-hosted meeting

Among new sites being considered for World Heritage status are China’s ancient port city of Quanzhou, and the Dholavira archaeological ruins in India

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The Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Queensland, Australia, is in danger of being removed from the Unesco list of World Heritage Sites as it has lost half of its corals since 1995. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 1:15pm, 16 Jul 2021Updated: 2:10pm, 16 Jul 2021

The world heritage committee of the UN’s cultural agency Unesco on Friday began debating its list of World Heritage Sites, with Australia and Britain furious over looming changes to the status of the Great Barrier Reef and the historic docks in the city of Liverpool.

On the plus side, nearly 50 sites could be added to the more than 1,100 listed worldwide by Unesco as World Heritage during two weeks of online meetings hosted by China in the southeastern city of Fuzhou. Among the sites being considered for inclusion are China’s ancient port city of Quanzhou, the Dholavira archaeological ruins, in India, and northern Japan’s Jomon Prehistoric Sites, but the agenda is particularly heavy after last year’s meeting was cancelled because of the Covid pandemic.

The prestigious World Heritage label can be a boon for tourism while encouraging governments to protect cultural or environmental treasures, under the watchful eye of Unesco advisers. But addition to the list isn’t permanent, and sites can also be stripped of their status or be warned they are at risk.

The agency’s expert committee will be examining the state of conservation of around 250 sites, of which 53 are already on its “List of World Heritage in Danger” – a designation meant to prod officials into taking corrective action.

The waterfront and docks in Liverpool. Photo: Getty Images

The at-risk list includes the historic waterfront and docks of Liverpool, the port in northwest England that played a key role in Britain’s industrial revolution, and which risks outright deletion. The so-called Maritime Mercantile City was the place from which millions of emigrants – as well as African slaves – left for the United States and elsewhere, a history that forged what Unesco deemed Liverpool’s “distinctive character and unique spirit”.

But since 2012, the agency has locked horns with local officials over development that has seen extensive restorations but also new construction that Unesco experts say is overwhelming the district. It has urged the city to limit building heights and reconsider a new stadium at the Bramley-Moore Dock, warning of “significant loss to its authenticity and integrity”.