China denies politics behind UNESCO move on Barrier Reef

China denies politics behind UNESCO move on Barrier Reef

Subject: Environment

Context: A top Chinese official said on Sunday that political tensions between Beijing and Australia were not behind a UNESCO recommendation to place the Great Barrier Reef on its endangered list.

Concept :

About Great Barrier Reef:

• It is the world’s most extensive and spectacular coral reef ecosystem composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands.
• The reef is located in the Coral Sea (North-East Coast), off the coast of Queensland, Australia.
• It can be seen from outer space and is the world’s biggest single structure made by living organisms.
• This reef structure is composed of and built by billions of tiny organisms, known as coral polyps.
• They are made up of genetically identical organisms called polyps, which are tiny, soft-bodied organisms. At their base is a hard, protective limestone skeleton called a calicle, which forms the structure of coral reefs.
• These polyps have microscopic algae called zooxanthellae living within their tissues. The corals and algae have a mutualistic (symbiotic) relationship.
• It was selected as a World Heritage Site in 1981.

List of World Heritage in Danger

• The List of World Heritage in Danger is compiled by UNESCO.
• The list is intended to increase international awareness of the threats and to encourage counteractive measures.
• Two UNESCO world heritage sites in India that were earlier included in the World Heritage in Danger list but now have been delisted include:

Group of Monuments at Hampi

Manas Wildlife sanctuary, Assam

UNESCO World Heritage Site:

• Is a landmark or area which is selected by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)as having cultural, historical, scientific or other form of significance, and is legally protected by international treaties download from collective ray.
• It came by Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage signed by UNESCO members.
• It establish World Heritage Committee comprises of 15 State parties to convention.

Procedure

• Every State Party to this Convention shall, in so far as possible, submit to the World Heritage Committee an inventory of property forming part of the cultural and natural heritage, situated in its territory
• A country must first list its significant cultural and natural sites; the result is called the Tentative List.
• Next, it can place sites selected from that list into a Nomination File.
• The Nomination File is evaluated by the International council on monuments and sites and the World Conservation Union.
• These bodies then make their recommendations to the World Heritage Committee. The Committee meets once per year to determine whether or not to inscribe each nominated property on the World Heritage List and sometimes defers or refers the decision to request more information from the country which nominated the site.