The Great Barrier Reef: Why It Should Stay On UNESCO's Endangered List

Recently, UNESCO announced that the Great Barrier Reef is on the endangered list and, it should.

When a World Heritage site is on this list, It is protected by the organisation. I am going to tell you why the Great Barrier Reef should stay on the list and how it will benefit us.

Firstly, let's talk about the food chain.

You know how people say that humans are at the top of the food chain?

You know how the exact same people say that the food chain is like a pyramid of blocks, and that if you pull out a block from underneath, everything falls down?

What they are saying is 100% true, no doubt about it. But, there has to be an explanation to why this happens right? Luckily, there is.

The Great Barrier Reef is one of the biggest coral reefs in the world. And, as you know, coral is essential for fish and other deep sea animals. Now, think of it this way. Imagine the deep sea without any colour, that is coral (because they’re colourful).

Now, if all the coral disappeared, this is bad news for everybody and everything, and I mean it.

See, when I said that coral is essential for fish, I mean that it provides shelter from other predators of fish, provides them with food and gives them a birthing place without being rudely interrupted by a great white shark.

Without coral, none of this would be possible. So that means that animals that eat fish, die to starvation. Those animals that eat the animals that eat fish also die to starvation. If they don’t that means that they have found an alternative source of food.

This might seem great, but then those animals that eat the alternative source of food that another species took from them will die due to starvation.

This process will continue until it comes down to humans. How does this affect human life? All seafood is gone. Those who rely on seafood as their only source of food will not survive any longer.

Lastly, preservation. Currently, we are using the Great Barrier Reef as a source of maintenance to make sure everything is balanced (e.g. food chain as discussed previously).

Now, let's say we go 50 years into the future.

If we go to where the Great Barrier Reef is (or was) will it be there? Unfortunately, we do not have the answer to that. But what we are trying to do is to preserve The Great Barrier Reef.

This is vital because the way it currently works (I explained in the previous slide) now, will most likely be used 50 years later. Preserving it is so important because the way of getting The Great Barrier Reef to help us balance the world is something to go on for centuries to come.

This is true because humans are still most likely going to be eating the food we eat today.

Hopefully now you know why putting the Great Barrier Reef on the endangered list is so important.

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