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UNESCO threatened to list Australia’s Great Barrier Reef as a ‘World Heritage in Danger’ site, for allowing the dumping of up to three million cubic metres of dredged sediment by Indian companies GVK and Adani Group as part of a major coal port expansion plan. Reef authorities granted permission for the dumping in January as part of a project to create one of the world’s biggest coal ports, triggering protests by environmentalists. The nod by Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority would pave the way for North Queensland Bulk Ports Corp to dump dredged material for two terminals which have been undertaken by two Indian firms, Adani Enterprises and GVK-Hancock, a partnership of Indian conglomerate GVK and Hancock Coal.