Tasmanian wilderness under ‘friendly’ fire: @adropex comments

Cradle Mountain, Tasmania (Source: Wikipedia).

Cradle Mountain, Tasmania (Source: Wikipedia).

By Lesley Howard @adropex

4th February 2014

On February 1, 2013, the Australian federal government submitted a proposal to the World Heritage Committee for a minor boundary modification to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. The World Heritage Committee reviewed and accepted the submission in June 2013 and the extension of approximately 170,000 hectares was duly listed.

On February 1, 2014, the Australian federal government submitted a proposal to the World Heritage Committee for a minor boundary modification to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. The World Heritage Committee will review this submission when it meets in June 2014.

The submission requests that approximately 74,000 of the 170,000ha of the previously approved extension be delisted. Fundamentally, today’s government is saying that the areas proposed for delisting should never have been listed in the first place as they are areas that have been disturbed and previously logged.

Even though considerable documentation is required to make a submission to the World Heritage Committee, no-one seems to be able to determine whether the areas proposed for delisting actually contain old growth forests or not, and controversy rages about the motives of those involved in this contentious debate.

One major point, however, seems to have been missed as accusations fly and expert opinions abound.

The Labor government made the submission of 2013, in response to the World Heritage Committee Decision 36 COM 8B, which asked for consideration of additions to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.

The submission was made in accordance with established guidelines; the World Heritage Committee assessed the submission and approved the extension.

It is unprecedented for Australia to seek to delist a site from World Heritage protection.

Not only has the Coalition government done so, they flagged their intent within months of the World Heritage Committee’s decision in the build up to the 2013 federal election. It would not be unreasonable to assume, therefore, that the Coalition government did not believe that the World Heritage Committee made an appropriate decision in June 2013.

Whilst the current government has not been as explicit as some commentators, the implication appears to be that the previous government was politically motivated in making its submission, that its intent was to mislead the World Heritage Committee and, given the decision, the World Heritage Committee’s processes were sufficiently inadequate and that they had indeed been misled.

We are all familiar and perhaps frustrated with the jousting and rhetoric that our politicians regularly engage in. It is, however, a significant step to impugn a body of the global standing of the World Heritage Committee and to imply it has been hoodwinked by our very local political machinations.


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Comments

  1. Rodney E Laver says

    Tricky Tony and his team takes us all for mugs and is out to con the World Hertitage, just like he has conned all of us. The thing is, who benefits from this new advance in the rape of the rainforests? Tony himself? The Liberal Party? Somebody’s mate?


  2. …disgusting fools with NO conscience, so blatantly owned and controlled by mining companies (and newz corpse toilet papers) – the LNP are the new terrorists – without a doubt.

    Don’t be fooled – this is not just about raping a treasure of global significance for woodchipping and clearfelling of forests that have stood for millions of years – >
    # it is about MINING !

    Once the protection of this great asset to all people on earth is gone, the mining and killing of everything that lives in these ancient forests starts, and the rivers and groundwater downstream are ruined forever.

    Scum – of the highest order.

    Gunt /Abbort /Abitz/BrandUS, are constantly lying frauds, caught up in so many lies and distortions of the facts, the bullshit over shark killing, dumping toxic waste on our GREAT Barrier Reef – self proven Tea Party puppets.

    Abbort Environmental Terrorist Organization. (AETO)

    Up on the global stage as the greatest of World idiots, – they don’t even give a shit about their own pathetic dwindling reputations.

    They hate the environment we live in.
    They hate those who care for the future of our children and generations beyond.
    They hate.
    EVIL – there is no other word for it.

    MARCH IN MARCH! – be there!