Property ID N154
In response to World Heritage Committee Decision 38 COM 7B.63

Purpose of this report
This 2015 State Party Report is a progress report outlining Australia’s substantial progress in implementing key requests made by the World Heritage Committee (Decision (38 COM 7B.63)
This 2015 report builds on the extensive information already provided in the 2012, 2013 and 2014 State Party reports.
Structure of this report
The executive summary provides a snapshot of Australia’s progress against the 2014 World Heritage Committee decision. Appendix 2 provides an overview of progress against the 2011-2014 Committee decisions and the 2012 Reactive Monitoring Mission recommendations concerning the state of conservation of the GBRWHA (Decisions 35 COM 7B.10, 36 COM 7B.8, 37 COM 7B.10 and 38 COM 7B.63, and recommendations of the Mission Report, Reactive Monitoring Mission to the Great Barrier Reef (Australia) 6th to 14th March 2012).
Chapter 1 is the introduction to the report. It includes a summary of Australia’s continuing progress and commitment to action for the state of conservation of the GBRWHA.
Chapter 2 outlines the state of conservation of the GBRWHA and includes a summary of the overall findings of the Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report 2014 and an assessment of the condition of the property against the criteria for the inscription of properties in the List of World Heritage in Danger. Appendix 4 provides further detail on findings of the Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report 2014 in relation to Outstanding Universal Value.
Chapter 3 identifies the current conservation issues for the GBRWHA as well as the corrective actions being developed by the Australian and Queensland governments. Chapter 3 also outlines Australia’s ongoing investment in and strengthened legislation and governance arrangements for the GBRWHA.
Supplementary information
On 10 March 2015, Australia submitted to the World Heritage Centre an Addendum to the 2015 State Party Report in response to recent policy changes by the new Queensland Government following the Queensland state election on 31 January 2015 and also to questions raised during technical discussions with the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and IUCN. This Addendum includes a number of significant new commitments from both the Australian and Queensland governments and provides supplementary information on several matters discussed in the 2015 State Party Report.