The Great Barrier Reef: Biology, Environment and Management

Australia's spectacular Great Barrier Reef is experiencing its worst bleaching event on record, the country's reef authority reported on Wednesday.

Often dubbed the world's largest living structure, the Great Barrier Reef is a 2,300-kilometre (1,400-mile) long expanse, home to a stunning array of biodiversity including more than 600 types of coral and 1,625 fish species.

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.

Coral transplantation gives hopes to rescue the Great Barrier Reef - the largest reef system on the north-east coast of Australia, mediapool reported.

Australia's under-pressure Great Barrier Reef is an asset worth Aus$56 billion (US$42 billion) and as an ecosystem and economic driver is "too big to fail," a study said on June 26.

Some of the most precious jewels of nature and civilization, including the historic Italian city of Venice, face the risk of global warmingFrom the glimmering coral of the Great Barrier Reef to Mount Fuji and the canal-crossed city of Venice, global warming may spell the final ruin of some of the most precious jewels of nature and civilization.

These are five sites at risk: