Source: IBN Live [1]
January 22, 2013

Sydney: The Great Barrier Reef near Australia could be stripped of its world heritage status if action is not taken to better protect the natural icon from coal and gas developments, environment groups have said. A coalition of such groups has launched the "Fight for the Reef" campaign in Canberra, saying politicians were putting the reef's international reputation at risk, the Australian Associated Press reported.

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest reef system, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs. It has over 900 islands stretching for over 2,600 km. Campaign director Felicity Wishart said that in 2012, Unesco was "sufficiently concerned" enough by proposed developments along the Queensland coast to send a mission to Australia to investigate.

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