The head of Unesco says the Australian government has started to listen to international concerns over the health of the Great Barrier Reef, raising hopes that it will avoid receiving an embarrassing “in danger” listing next year.

The director general of the UN’s cultural and heritage body, Irina Bokova, told Guardian Australia she hoped the government’s plan for the reef would “reverse the trend” of its decline.



Bokova said Unesco’s world heritage committee was “very worried by the damage to the universal value of the Great Barrier Reef but now the government is listening, the government is starting to take serious measures”.



“Definitely, some of the decisions taken before were a matter of concern. The world heritage committee said it will consider the ‘in danger’ listing next year and apparently that has worried the Australian government and they have started to act.



“Now I hope we will reverse this trend. We are having constructive dialogue with the government and we are encouraged by what I’ve heard, that the government will act differently.



“We’d recommend that [the government] concentrate on the outstanding universal value to the reef to prevent possible damage to the site, instead of compensating for the damage. We are talking to them in a good spirit and I’m reassured.”



Unesco experts are assessing Australia’s plan to deal with the decline of the Great Barrier Reef, which has lost half its coral cover in the past 30 years.



The Australian Academy of Science has cast doubt on whether the government’s plan will restore the reef.



The Unesco chief also welcomed the announcement by the environment minister, Greg Hunt, that dumping dredged sediment into the reef’s marine park will be banned.



“We requested that they have respective legislation and they’ve come back with this decision, which is welcome,” Bokova said. “We had full and frank talks about this.



“I can’t prejudge any decision by the committee, but as long as there is dialogue with civil society and the recommendations of experts are listened to, it will be positive for the long-term conservation of the reef. But it’s too early to say what will happen next year.”



The world heritage committee has raised concerns over the expansion of ports and the devolvement of environmental powers to the Queensland state government, as well as dumping. Bokova, who held meetings with Hunt and the foreign minister, Julie Bishop, on Thursday, said Hunt “listened carefully” to her request that the federal government retain its oversight of the reef.

A recent assessment by the Great Barrier Reef marine park authority cited climate change as the leading threat to the coral ecosystem, with pollution, extreme weather events and a plague of coral-eating starfish also contributing to its malaise.

The reef, along with Kakadu and Queensland’s wet tropics, was listed as one of the world heritage sites whose health gave rise to “significant concern” in an IUCN analysis released on Thursday.



Conversely, the IUCN’s first “green list” – a compilation of the best-managed natural areas in the world – included Montague Island nature reserve and the Arakwal national park, both in New South Wales.

