… Government fails to meet UNESCO decision
The Wilderness Society today welcomed the report of the Director of National Parks and Wildlife, a step in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (TWWHA) Management Plan review process. The report responds to the 7,554 public representations to the management plan review.
Despite being a specific request of the World Heritage Committee, a significant focus of many submissions and acknowledged as a critical value of the TWWHA, wilderness protection appears underdone in this report. This report fails to capture wilderness as a specific ‘criteria’ against which new tourism development and aircraft landings are to be assessed.
The report explicitly proposes provision for the development of commercial huts and associated infrastructure along the South Coast Track, an area of high wilderness value. The South Coast Track features no commercial accommodation infrastructure as it is subject to a specific provision of the current (1999) management plan prohibiting hut development.
“Wilderness is not just a valuable brand and magnet for people all over the world, it is real value that can be measured, mapped and, if not properly protected, destroyed,” said Vica Bayley, spokesperson for the Wilderness Society.
“Wilderness has been recognised as a key management tool for protecting the outstanding natural and cultural heritage values of the TWWHA, but does not rate a mention in the proposed criteria for assessing new commercial tourism developments. Further, this report confirms the proposal to overturn a long standing protection for the South Coast Track and endorses a private commercial development that would harm wilderness values on one of the world’s great coastal wilderness experiences.
In July, the World Heritage Committee urged the ‘establishment of strict criteria for new tourism development within the property which would be in line with the primary goal of protecting the property’s OUV, including its wilderness character and cultural attributes.’ The Director’s Report ignores the wilderness component of this request.
“To meet the request of the Committee and our World Heritage obligations, to maintain the authenticity of our wilderness brand and to properly conserve the values of the TWWHA, any management plan for the TWWHA should enshrine maintaining and enhancing wilderness value as a key objective and reject any action that compromises this objective. Protecting wilderness should be an explicit criteria of the assessment of all tourism development.
Commitments in the Director’s Report to prohibit logging and mining across the TWWHA are of course welcome, though inescapable, given the latest (July 2015) decision of the World Heritage Committee requesting such an outcome, recently reconfirmed by the UNESCO Reactive Monitoring Mission report. The report signals Government intention to ‘consider’ upgrading the tenure of relevant areas that under current legislation can be logged.
“We urge Hodgman Government to move to proclaim national parks across iconic areas such as the Styx, Weld, upper Florentine and Great Western Tiers, listed as World Heritage yet currently inadequately protected under Tasmanian law.
The Management Plan review process is now with the Tasmanian Planning Commission, who will review the Director’s Report against the public submissions and provide a report to Environment Minister Matthew Groom. The Commission has the option to hold public hearings.
“Given the level of public interest in this review, the significance of the TWWHA for both Tasmania and Australia and the outstanding issues regarding the adequacy of the proposed management plan, the option of conducting public hearings should be taken up by the Planning Commission and supported by the Minister.
Vica Bayley Tasmanian Campaign Manager The Wilderness Society (Tasmania) Inc.
