UN report: climate change damaging World Heritage sites

Islands in the Gulf of California in Mexico and Australia's Great Barrier Reef are at critical risk

An aerial view of the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of the Whitsunday Islands, along the central coast of Queensland. AFP

Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California. © UNESCO

Salonga National Park. © UNESCO

Lake Turkana is situatated in the Great Rift Valley in Kenya. It is the world's largest desert lake and the world's largest alkaline lake. Rocks in the surrounding area are predominantly volcanic. Getty Images

Elephants stand in tall grass in the Garamba National Park in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. AFP

Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve. © UNESCO

Niokolo-Koba National Park. © UNESCO

Dja Faunal Reserve in Cameroon. © UNESCO

Virunga National Park. © UNESCO

Zebras and Wildebeast graze in Selous Game Reserve, southern Tanzania. AFP

Aïr and Ténéré Natural Reserves in Niger. Alamy

East Rennell (Solomon Islands). © UNESCO

Clouds are reflected in the Florida Everglade. AFP

A male Grauer's gorilla, a critically endangered species, rests in the forest of Kahuzi-Biega National Park in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo. AFP

Okapi Wildlife Reserve, Democratic Republic of Congo. Alamy

Aerial view of rainforest Leuser Mountain National Park which is one of the national parks listed in UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, the Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra in Aceh, Indonesia. Getty Images

Aerial view of the Rio Platano biosphere reserve in La Mosquitia region, Honduras. AFP

Climate change is increasingly damaging the UN’s most cherished heritage sites, a leading conservation agency said on Wednesday.

It said that Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and dozens of other natural wonders face severe threat.

Shrinking glaciers, bushfires, floods, droughts and the bleaching of coral reefs are among the troubles caused by climate change facing 83 of the 252 World Heritage Sites listed by Unesco, the UN’s cultural agency.

Natural World Heritage sites are among the world's most precious places, and we owe it to future generations to protect them

Sixteen World Heritage sites have deteriorated since the last World Heritage Outlook was released three years ago, while only eight improved, said the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), made up of governments and civil society groups and advises Unesco on natural threats to those sites.

“Natural World Heritage sites are among the world’s most precious places, and we owe it to future generations to protect them,” IUCN director general Bruno Oberle said.

“Climate change is wreaking [havoc] on natural World Heritage, from shrinking glaciers to coral bleaching to increasingly frequent and severe fires and droughts.”

The report says the Great Barrier Reef, where ocean warming, acidification and extreme weather are adding to the coral decline and shrinking marine species populations, were one of four sites in Australia under “very high” threat.

The islands of protected areas in the Gulf of California in Mexico have also entered the critical category in the listing. Spain’s Garajonay National Park, Olympic National Park in the United States, and Mexico’s Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve are among those under “very high” threat, the new report said.

Human activities such as tourism, hunting and fishing, and livestock grazing have also had an effect. In a shift from the previous two IUCN reports, climate change has eclipsed “invasive alien species” – such as when foreign rodents, fish or plants are transplanted, accidentally or not, to new environments – as the most potent threat against such sites.