Great Barrier Reef progress report: We have to do better on water quality, says Australia

Efforts to curb tree clearing have failed, the government admits in its update to Unesco on work to save the world heritage site

Australia needs to work faster on lifting water quality to save the Great Barrier Reef, according to its first progress report to Unesco since the world heritage site was spared an "in-danger" listing.

The report admitted that a key plank of Australia's conservation plan - land-clearing reforms in Queensland to staunch water pollution - had failed. It also highlighted climate change, which is the biggest threat to the reef and led to the worst recorded coral bleaching in its history this year, but which the plan makes no attempt to address.