MOSCOW, May 25 (Sputnik) — Global warming poses the greatest risk to Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the largest coral reef in the world, the chairman of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Russell Reichelt, said Monday.
"Climate change is the single biggest long-term risk to the reef," Reichelt told a parliamentary inquiry hearing, days before United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization makes a decision on whether the reef will be placed on the "endangered list," as quoted by Financial Review.
Reichelt added that he believed that the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority had enough funding to tackle the problem, despite a $3.52-million cut to the authority's budget in May.
In February, Australian Environment Minister Greg Hunt said that the country's government was committed to preserving the reef with "renewed vigor" after UNESCO warned that it could be included on the endangered sites list.
