Literary and artistic engagements have helped to shape the region into the iconic landscape it is today.
Dozens of reefs around the world have bleached in the past three years, of which the Great Barrier Reef was merely the most high-profile.
AAP Image/WWF AUSTRALIA, BIOPIXEL
Amid fears for the world’s coral reefs, the UN World Heritage Committee has issued its most wide-ranging statement so far on protecting heritage sites from climate. But the problem doesn’t end there.
The Great Barrier Reef is reeling under a combination of bleaching, over-fishing and land clearing.
AP Image/Bette Willis
The Great Barrier Reef has avoided being listed as “in danger” by UNESCO. But celebrating this is dangerously short-sighted.
Australia’s Purnululu National Park is a World Heritage wilderness, but many other pristine places lack similar protection.
AAP Image/Tourism Australia
Wilderness areas are vitally important, yet are largely overlooked by the United Nations’ list of natural World Heritage. This week’s meeting in Poland is a chance to redress that balance.
The “Door of Europe” monument, which commemorates migrants who died on their journey, is seen on the southern Italian island of Lampedusa.
Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters
The island of Lampedusa in Italy has become the symbol of how a community can welcome migrants — for better or for worse.
Chinese ceramics recovered from the 9th century Belitung shipwreck in Indonesia, now held at the Asian Civilisations Museum (Singapore)
ArtScience Museum Singapore
Archaeologists this week found that more than half of of HMAS Perth, a WWII wreck in Indonesia, has disappeared. It’s now a race to protect the millions of other wrecks and sunken cities lying under the oceans.
Melbourne’s Flinders Street station is transformed into a stage for the 2013 White Night.
Gav Owen/Flickr
Melbourne may be the self-proclaimed music capital of Australia, but industry data suggests Sydney may have the upper hand. Meanwhile the UN recognises Adelaide as the country’s only city of music.
Press freedom is being undermined by the global trend towards mass surveillance and data retention.
www.shutterstock.com
The Great Barrier Reef is in crisis, as a second wave of coral bleaching hits. But the system of bodies and laws that protect it are getting more complicated – and less productive.
It’s not enough for textbooks just to be present in a classroom. They must support learning.
Global Partnership for Education/Flickr
Textbooks in sufficient quantities are effective in improving the quality of education but in Africa language poses a problem to how pupils interact with the material they are taught.