WARSAW • Unesco this week said its World Heritage Committee had decided not to place Australia's Great Barrier Reef on its list of sites "in danger" despite concern over coral bleaching.

A spokesman said the committee had made the decision and expressed "deep concern" over two straight years of mass coral bleaching, which aerial surveys found had affected some two-thirds of the World Heritage-listed site.

The bleaching is the result of warming sea temperatures linked to climate change.

In reaching its decision, the committee noted Australian attempts to preserve the largest living structure on earth under its Reef 2050 Plan and did not find it necessary to place the site on its danger list, said spokesman Anika Paliszewska.

Canberra has committed more than A$2 billion (S$2.1 billion) to protect the site over the next decade, but has been criticised for backing a huge coal project by Indian mining giant Adani near the reef.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE