Tasmanian & Australian Government in embarrassing UNESCO limelight again

Time to strive for genuine World Heritage management and protection

Threats to Tasmania’s Wilderness World Heritage Area by the Tasmanian Government’s plan to allow logging and mining in the property, weakened protections of Outstanding Universal Values, intent to degrade wilderness quality and the Australian Government’s failure to meet numerous requests on assessing cultural significance, have been criticised in the draft decision of the World Heritage Committee.

Bob Brown Foundation Campaign Manager Jenny Weber said, “This World Heritage draft decision on Tasmania urges a review of the proposed management plan to ensure logging and mining are not permitted across the entire property and reiterates the need for proper consultation with the Aboriginal community and expeditious survey of cultural attributes of the property. Will Hodgman’s Government and Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt, urgently need to publicly commit to addressing these concerns and draft recommendations by the World Heritage Committee.”

The Bob Brown Foundation is calling on the Tasmanian Government to reverse its intentions over the management of Tasmania’s World Heritage Area.

“Reinstate the wilderness zone, rule out logging and mining inside the property, upgrade all land tenure to National Park within the World Heritage Area, and get to the job of surveying cultural attributes and adequately funding the property,” Jenny Weber said.

“Australia’s Government has failed to genuinely engage with the Aboriginal community of Tasmania to assess the cultural heritage values across the World Heritage property. Dragging their heels on this assessment is a international embarrassment, Jenny Weber said.

“The current Government’s plans to log, mine, allow for invasive developments and dump wilderness, replacing it with a ‘remote recreation zone’, are incompatible with World Heritage Area management. It’s time Tasmania and Australia regard the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area with high esteem and act genuinely to protect its outstanding universal values,” Jenny Weber said.

“It is an international embarrassment that Australia and Tasmania are once again in the international spotlight for attacks on the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, when it should be a world leader for protecting a globally unique wilderness region,” Jenny Weber said.
Jenny Weber, The Bob Brown Foundation