Australia’s conservative Liberal-National government has ignored an upper house Senate inquiry’s advice on a World Heritage-listed forest in Tasmania after the inquiry condemned plans to de-list the forest.
Conservationists and the Australian Greens Party have condemned the federal government for its actions in trying to have the UNESCO World Heritage body de-list the forest.
At the same time the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) has said a new poll shows 97 per cent of Australians believe governments should do all they can to protect natural places on the World Heritage List and 91 per cent believe the 74,000 hectares of threatened Tasmanian Wilderness should be kept on the UN list.
The extension of Tasmania’s World Heritage area was the centrepiece of the so-called forest peace deal.
However, the coalition government opposes the deal and says it want the World Heritage committee to reduce the Tasmanian extension by the 74,000 hectares.
Australian Greens leader Senator Christine Milne was on the Senate Committee that told the government to stop trying to delist the forest.
“If a country like Australia decides that, as a result of a political whim, it can destroy its World Heritage area to facilitate logging, that will send a very clear message to other countries that they can adjust their boundaries for uranium mines or any other kind of mining, logging, tourism, development or whatever they like,” she said.
“It would be a real blow to World Heritage globally.”
The ACF and other environment groups gave evidence to the committee that only a tiny percentage of the forests was disturbed and a boundary change would not enhance protection of the forest’s outstanding universal values.
An independent poll of more than 1000 nationally representative Australians, conducted by Lonergan Research on behalf of ACF, has found:
- Almost all Australians (97 per cent) agree that regardless of economic or political pressure to exploit natural places on the World Heritage List, Australian governments should do all they can to protect them.
- Nine in ten Australians (91 per cent) believe the 74,000 hectares of Tasmanian Wilderness should be kept on the World Heritage List.
- More than 9 in 10 (94 per cent) of Australians think governments should honour the Tasmanian Forest Agreement.
“This polling clearly shows Australians are passionate about Tasmania’s World Heritage listed forests and they expect the government to protect them, not exploit them,” said ACF’s Healthy Ecosystems Campaigner Jess Abrahams.
“The scientific experts who gave evidence to the Senate Committee said these forests should not be de-listed – this poll shows the vast majority of Australians feel the same.
“Why on earth is the Abbott Government ignoring the heads and hearts of ordinary and expert Australians on this crucial issue?” Mr Abrahams asked. However, Tasmanian Liberal Senator Richard Colbeck said the government would push on with its request.
Senator Colbeck said it should never have been World Heritage.
The World Heritage committee will hand down its draft decision this week.
Vica Bayley from the Wilderness Society is one of the environmentalists who negotiated the forest agreement and he wants to keep the World Heritage extension intact.
“The industry has restructured and, similarly, the specialty timber sector needs to readjust and accept that fact,” he said.
Environmentalists have already been back into the forests protesting against the World Heritage delisting.
Mr Bayley says delisting of the World Heritage forest will spark more protests.
Environmentalists will travel to Doha next month to lobby the World Heritage committee when it makes its final decision on Tasmania’s forests. http://whc.unesco.org/en/sessions/38com/
