Central Indo-Pacific

Australia unveiled a billion-dollar package to protect the climate-ravaged Great Barrier Reef on Jan. 28, hoping to prevent the vast network of corals from being removed from UNESCO's World Heritage list.

The Great Barrier Reef's outlook remains "very poor" despite coral recovery over the past year, Australian government scientists said on July 19, just days before a UNESCO ruling on the site's world heritage status.

The Great Barrier Reef should be added to a list of "in danger" World Heritage Sites, a U.N. committee recommended on June 22, prompting an angry response from Australia which said it had been blindsided by the move and blamed political interference.