UNESCO rejects 'feeble' bid to reduce size of Tasmanian protected forests

UNESCO has unanimously rejected a “feeble” Australian Government bid to reopen 74,000 hectares of forest from Tasmania's World Heritage Area (WHA) to logging.

At its annual meeting in Doha, UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee said the Federal Government had failed to provide compelling evidence that areas added to the site only last year were detracting from the overall value of the area. The area was part of 170,000 hectares added to the WHA last year under Tasmania's forest peace deal enacted by the former State and Federal Labor Governments.

The Abbott Ministry had argued the 74,000 hectares were degraded by previous logging and should be unlocked for the timber industry.

No committee members defended the Australian cause as the proposal was discarded in less than ten minutes.

Portugal’s delegate said accepting Australia’s request would undermine UNESCO’s ability to protect natural and cultural icons, stating "the justifications presented (for) the reduction are, to say the least, feeble.

“Accepting this delisting ...  would be setting an unacceptable precedent, impossible to deny in similar circumstances in the future. If this committee cares for conservation according to responsible engagement of state parties to the convention when they submit their nominations, we cannot accept this requested delisting.”

It is the second time in a week UNESCO has rejected of Australian attempts to open world heritage sites to development. Last Wednesday, the committee warned that the Great Barrier Reef could be placed on a list of threatened sites because of Queensland’s approval of plans to dump material dredged from coal ports inside the park.

The Australian Government told UNESCO that some of the 172,500 hectares added under the previous Labor government were forests degraded by logging or contained plantations and that “the assessment work that included such areas in the property did not sufficiently take this in to account”. The new boundary would annex 43% of the original extension.

A representative of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which advises UNESCO, rebuffed the Federal Government’s assertion that the Tasmanian forests were degraded, stating “the current proposal is extremely sparse in the material that has been provided and it doesn’t compare in quality to the clearly argued position in the proposal for additions that were made last year."

The Government says it accepts the UNESCO's decision, with Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt stating “Australia accepts and will consider the decision of the World Heritage Committee.”

Minister Hunt pointed out that the delisting attempt had been an election commitment for a “minor boundary modification” to the area.

A spokesman for the Tasmanian Government said it was disappointed with the outcome but would accept the decision.

News of the decision was quickly welcomed by conservation groups, including former Greens leader Bob Brown who described the decision as a "global diplomatic humiliation" for the Abbott Government.

Wilderness Society Campaign Manager Vica Bayley said the decision showed the world was behind preserving the forest, adding “environmentalists and Aboriginal Tasmanians are together welcoming this decision because it does protect the integrity of the Tasmanian World Heritage Area and it would protect that in perpetuity."

Earlier this year, Prime Minister Tony Abbott told a timber industry function that he wanted more forest available.

Prime Minister stated "we don't support, as a Government and as a Coalition, further lockouts of our forests.

"We have quite enough national parks, we have quite enough locked-up forests already. In fact, in an important respect, we have too much locked-up forest."

However, one of Tasmania's leading timber industry groups, Forest Industries Association of Tasmania, wrote to the World Heritage Committee asking it to uphold the current boundaries.

14th April 2014 - TASMANIA’S PROTECTED FORESTS TO BE LOGGED AS PEACE DEAL DISMANTLED