Chapter 1
Background
Referral of the inquiry
1.1
On 13 February 2014, the Senate referred the following matter to the
Senate Environment and Communications References Committee, for inquiry and
report by 15 May 2014:
- the natural world heritage values of the Tasmanian Wilderness World
Heritage Area minor boundary extension passed by the World Heritage Committee
in June 2013;
-
the interaction between the Department of the Environment and the Prime
Minister and other ministers' offices, and the process followed in the
department's review of the 2013 extension that led to a lesser minor boundary
extension being submitted for consideration at the 2014 World Heritage
Committee meeting;
-
any action the Department of the Environment has funded, directed and
overseen to rehabilitate any degraded areas within the World Heritage Area
identified in the department's 2013 review, as per the requirements of the
World Heritage Convention;
-
the extent and description of any areas of degraded forest included in
the 2013 boundary adjustment and the World Heritage Committee’s rationale for
including them;
-
implications for the World Heritage status of the Tasmanian Wilderness
World Heritage Area of the Government's request to withdraw the 74,000 hectares
for logging; and
-
any related matter.[1]
Conduct of the inquiry
1.2
In accordance with usual practice, the committee advertised the inquiry nationally
in The Australian newspaper and on the internet. The committee also wrote
to relevant organisations, inviting submissions by 7 March 2014. The committee received
117 submissions, listed at Appendix 1. The submissions may be accessed through
the committee's website.
1.3
The committee also received over 9,600 form letters and emails. The vast
majority of these were in response to a campaign by the organisation GetUp!
Action for Australia and were opposed to the proposed revocation. Due to the
large number of emails and form letters received, along with limitations on
committee resources, only a sample was published on the committee's website.
1.4
The committee held a public hearing in Hobart on 31 March 2014 and in
Canberra on 6 May 2014. A list of witnesses who appeared at the hearings may be
found at Appendix 2.
Maps of the Tasmanian Wilderness
World Heritage Area
1.5
At the time the committee commenced its inquiry, the Department of the
Environment's website contained a map of the proposed boundary modification of
the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area on the Department's website.
However, this map provided limited detail of the areas to be removed.
1.6
On 21 February 2014, the committee wrote to the Department of the
Environment requesting that more detailed maps of the areas of the Tasmanian
Wilderness World Heritage Area proposed for delisting be provided on the
Department's website. On 28 February 2014, the committee again wrote to the
Department of the Environment with a number of questions on notice.
1.7
On 7 March 2014, in addition to their submission, the Department provided
answers to the questions on notice and a series of more detailed maps, which
were published on the committee's website. The Department's website was also
updated to include the more detailed maps. The committee thanks the Department
for their cooperation in this regard.
1.8
The committee also corresponded with Forestry Tasmania to request
further data in relation to the areas proposed for delisting, including the
extent of past logging in the areas in question. The committee also thanks Forestry
Tasmania for its cooperation with the inquiry.
1.9
The committee would like to thank all the organisations, individuals and
government departments that contributed to the inquiry.[2]
Note on references
1.10
Hansard references in this report are to the proof committee Hansard.
Page numbers may vary between the proof and the official Hansard transcript.
Structure of the report
1.11
This chapter outlines the conduct of the inquiry and provides a
background and overview of the Tasmania Wilderness World Heritage Area.
1.12
Chapter 2 critically examines the reasons advanced by the Government in the
proposal submitted to the World Heritage Committee to modify the boundaries of
the Tasmania Wilderness World Heritage Area.
1.13
Chapter 3 discusses other key issues raised in evidence to the inquiry
including the process followed for the 2014 modification proposal; cultural
heritage issues; the potential impacts of the excision proposal; and the possible
international reaction to the proposal, including the World Heritage
Committee's likely response.
1.14
Chapter 4 contains the committee's conclusions and recommendations.
Background
1.15
This section provides a background and overview of the Tasmania
Wilderness World Heritage Area, including the processes leading up to the June
2013 extension to that area, and the current request from the Australian
Government to the World Heritage Committee, which is seeking to remove 74,039
hectares from the area.
World Heritage
1.16
The Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and
Natural Heritage (World Heritage Convention) was adopted by the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1972. The
World Heritage Committee is the body responsible for the implementation of the
World Heritage Convention.[3]
The World Heritage Committee meets once a year and consists of representatives
from 21 of the State Parties to the Convention as elected by their General
Assembly.[4]
1.17
In 1974, Australia became the seventh State Party to accede to the World
Heritage Convention. Australia currently has 19 properties on the World
Heritage List.[5]
Only the Australian Government can nominate Australian places for entry on the
World Heritage List. The World Heritage Committee assesses nominated places
against set criteria and makes the final decision on the places included on the
World Heritage List.[6]
1.18
The Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World
Heritage Convention (Operational Guidelines) provide guidance to the World
Heritage Committee in deciding which nominations should be included on the World
Heritage List. These guidelines state that nominations should be based on specific
criteria, which relate to the cultural and/or natural values of the area. To be
included on the World Heritage List, sites must be of 'outstanding universal
value' and meet at least one out of ten selection criteria.[7]
These criteria are listed at Appendix 3 of this report.
1.19
Nominations are referred to the World Heritage Committee's advisory
bodies, the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and the
International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), for review. These
advisory bodies then make a recommendation to the World Heritage Committee.[8]
1.20
In Australia, once a site is listed on the World Heritage List, it is
protected and managed under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and
Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 as a 'matter of national environmental
significance'.[9]
As the Department of the Environment's website states:
There are many benefits to a property being inscribed on the
World Heritage List, including increased tourist visitation, increases in
employment opportunities and income for local communities, and better
management and protection of the place. Listing is often accompanied by greater
scrutiny of a place, given its internationally acknowledged importance.[10]
1.21
The World Heritage Committee's Operational Guidelines also provide for
modifications to boundaries of listed properties.[11]
Modifications can be 'minor' or 'significant'. Paragraph 163 of the Operational
Guidelines provides that:
A minor modification is one which has not a significant
impact on the extent of the property nor affects its Outstanding Universal
Value.
1.22
A State Party can submit a minor modification request to the World
Heritage Secretariat, which will seek the evaluation of the relevant Advisory
Bodies on whether this can be considered a minor modification or not. The secretariat
then submits the Advisory Bodies' evaluation to the World Heritage Committee.
The World Heritage Committee may approve the minor modification, or it may
consider that the modification to the boundary is sufficiently significant as
to constitute a significant boundary modification of the property, in
which case the procedure for new nominations will apply. This provision applies
to extensions as well as reductions.[12]
The Tasmanian Wilderness World
Heritage Area
1.23
The Tasmanian Wilderness was first inscribed on the World Heritage
List in 1982 on the basis of all four natural criteria and for three cultural
criteria.[13]
1.24
The Department of the Environment's website describes the Tasmanian
Wilderness area as:
...one of the three largest temperate wilderness areas
remaining in the Southern Hemisphere. The region is home to some of the deepest
and longest caves in Australia. It is renowned for its diversity of flora, and
some of the longest lived trees and tallest flowering plants in the world grow
in the area. The Tasmanian Wilderness is a stronghold for several animals that
are either extinct or threatened on mainland Australia.[14]
1.25
In terms of cultural heritage, the Department's website states:
In the southwest Aboriginal people developed a unique
cultural tradition based on a specialized stone and bone toolkit that enabled
the hunting and processing of a single prey species (Bennett's wallaby) that
provided nearly all of their dietary protein and fat. Extensive limestone cave
systems contain rock art sites that have been dated to the end of the
Pleistocene period. Southwest Tasmanian Aboriginal artistic expression during
the last Ice Age is only known from the dark recesses of limestone caves.[15]
1.26
A more comprehensive description of the world heritage values of the Tasmanian
Wilderness World Heritage Area is set out at Appendix 4.[16]
1.27
The boundary of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area was
extended in 1989, June 2010, June 2012 and most recently in June 2013.[17]
Prior to the 2013 extension, the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area was
over 1.4 million hectares.[18]
In June 2013, the World Heritage Committee approved the addition of more than
170,000 hectares to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, taking the
total area to around 1.6 million hectares.[19]
History of the June 2013 extension
1.28
Prior to the June 2013 extension, the World Heritage Committee had expressed
concerns for many years about logging activities adjacent to the Tasmanian
Wilderness World Heritage Area. It had also made repeated requests to Australia
for the addition of areas adjacent to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage
Area.
1.29
For example, in 1995, the World Heritage Committee recalled and noted
concerns that 'there is forested land outside the site which may have World
Heritage values' and that 'logging and roading activities adjacent to the site
could have an adverse impact on the existing World Heritage site'.[20]
In 2006, the World Heritage Committee again noted concerns in relation to
logging activities adjacent to the property.[21]
In 2007, the World Heritage Committee urged Australia to consider the extension
of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage property 'to include critical
old-growth forests to the east and north of the property, or at least to manage
these forests in a manner which is consistent with a potential World Heritage
value.[22]
This request was reiterated in 2008 (after a joint World Heritage Centre, IUCN
and ICOMOS reactive monitoring mission recommended the boundaries be extended
to include adjoining parks and reserves), and again in 2010 and 2012.[23]
1.30
A number of domestic agreements were also made in the lead up to the
June 2013 extension to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. In August 2011,
the then Prime Minister, the Hon Julia Gillard MP and the then Tasmanian
Premier, the Hon Lara Giddings MP, signed the Tasmanian Forests
Intergovernmental Agreement 2011. Under the terms of that agreement,
some areas adjacent to the Tasmanian Wilderness were given interim protection
from logging activities, while an independent verification process was
undertaken to assess the values of these areas and available timber reserves.[24]
The work of the Independent Verification Group (IVG) was drawn upon in the
Australian Government's 2013 proposal for the boundary extension to the
Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.[25]
1.31
The June 2013 extension was also a key component of the Tasmanian
Forests Agreement 2012 (TFA), which was signed in November 2012 after
negotiations between forestry industry groups, unions and conservation groups.
Clause 37 of the TFA contained a recommendation that the Government nominate to
the World Heritage Committee, for consideration in June 2013, a proposed minor
extension to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area of 123,650 hectares.[26]
1.32
These agreements 'paved the way for the development of a proposal for a
minor boundary modification' to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.[27]
June 2013 extension
1.33
Following these agreements and after consideration of the outcomes of
the IVG process, the Australian Government lodged a proposal with the World
Heritage Committee on 1 February 2013 to add over 170,000 hectares to the
Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.[28]
This area included around 46,000 hectares of existing reserves as well as areas
agreed under the Tasmanian Forests Agreement 2012.[29]
The proposal included areas along the northern and eastern boundary of the
existing World Heritage property, encompassing:
...extensive stands of magnificent tall eucalypt forest,
associated rainforest, significant karst and glacial landforms as well as
alpine and sub-alpine environments.[30]
1.34
The Australian Government proposal explained that:
The proposed additions will markedly improve the conservation
of the natural values of the property along the northern and eastern borders.
Sweeping landscapes of exceptional natural beauty, especially associated with
tall eucalypt forests, will now be protected. Significant features, notably
remarkable karst systems and glacial features extending beyond the existing
boundary, will be brought into the property. The boundary will be more robust
and manageable.[31]
1.35
The proposal identified a number of features in the extension which it
suggested would contribute to the outstanding universal values of the area and
meet the natural heritage criteria for World Heritage Areas, including:
- additional areas of exceptional beauty, particularly majestic
stands of tall eucalypt forest, the Great Western Tiers escarpment and 'superlative
karst features' (criterion (vii));
-
additional important glacial and karst features, major escarpment
sections of the Central Plateau landform and significant geomorphic features
(criterion (viii));
-
increased representation of endemic species and additional
species not already known in the World Heritage property and the addition of
important stands of eucalypt forest, enhancing 'integrity of this globally
important forest ecosystem' and allowing for greater connectivity and
interaction between tall eucalypt forest and rainforest (criterion (ix)); and
-
enhanced representation of wet eucalypt forests, and addition of
important habitat for rare and threatened species, such as the Tasmanian devil,
spotted‑tailed quoll and Clarence galaxias as well as other rare
and threatened species not already included or known in the property (criterion
(x)).[32]
1.36
The proposal did not identify cultural heritage features or values, but
noted that 'the cultural values will need further identification and
consultation with the Tasmanian Aboriginal community'.[33]
1.37
The proposal was reviewed by the World Heritage Committee's advisory
bodies, the IUCN and ICOMOS. The IUCN noted the history of requests for the
area to be extended and recommended that the World Heritage Committee approve the
minor boundary modification.[34]
ICOMOS recommended that the proposal be referred back to Australia in order to
allow it to undertake further study and consultation, and provide further
information, in relation to the cultural heritage values of the area.[35]
1.38
On 24 June 2013, the World Heritage Committee approved the proposed
extension to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area as a minor
modification. In approving the modification, the Committee noted that it was
'submitted under natural criteria only although it appears to contain
significant cultural attributes'. The World Heritage Committee requested that the
Australian Government address a number of concerns in relation to the cultural
values of the property. Australia committed to report progress on this in 2015.[36]
Proposed modification
1.39
During the 2013 federal election campaign, as part of its Economic
Growth Plan for Tasmania, the Coalition stated that:
The Coalition has never supported Labor's recent rushed and
political World Heritage extension, which was put in place against the will of
the Tasmanian people, and we will seek to have it removed.[37]
1.40
On 18 December 2013, the Minister for the Environment, the Hon Greg Hunt
MP, wrote to the World Heritage Committee conveying the Australian Government's
intention to undertake a reassessment of the extension and to request a further
minor boundary modification in 2014.[38]
The letter stated that the Government was:
...concerned that the extension approved by the World Heritage
Committee in June 2013 includes a number of pine and eucalypt plantations along
with some areas of forest that have previously been subject to heavy logging.
These areas detract from the overall outstanding universal values of the property.[39]
1.41
After the Minister wrote to the World Heritage Committee, and at the
Minister's request, the Department advised that it undertook a review of the
2013 extension and prepared documentation for the submission of a minor
boundary modification to remove parts of the 2013 extension to the Tasmanian
Wilderness World Heritage Area. The submission was prepared to meet a deadline
of 31 January 2014, for consideration by the World Heritage Committee at its
June 2014 meeting.[40]
1.42
On 31 January 2014, the UNESCO World Heritage Centre received the
Australian Government's request seeking the World Heritage Committee's approval
for a minor modification to the boundaries of the Tasmanian Wilderness World
Heritage site. The World Heritage Centre has stated that:
In line with the provisions of the Operational Guidelines for
the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention, the World Heritage Centre
will seek the evaluation of the relevant Advisory Bodies in this matter. It
shall then submit the Advisory Bodies' evaluation to the 38th session of the
World Heritage Committee...[which] will take place in Doha, Qatar, from 15 to
25 June 2014.[41]
Areas proposed to be removed
1.43
The Australian Government's 2014 boundary modification proposal seeks to
remove 74,039 hectares of the extension approved by the World Heritage
Committee in June 2013.[42]
The proposal identifies a number of areas to be removed from the Tasmanian
Wilderness World Heritage Area, as set out in Table 1.1 overleaf.[43]
As noted earlier in this chapter, maps received from the Department of the
Environment in relation to the proposed excisions have been made available on
the committee's website.
1.44
The Australian Government's 2014 proposal explained that:
In selecting areas for excision, consideration was given to
retaining the overall coherence of the boundary, maintaining connectivity and
areas with important values such as habitat for threatened species, cultural
sites, karsts or other features that contribute to the Outstanding Universal
Value of the property.[44]
Table 1.1: Areas proposed to be removed from the Tasmanian
Wilderness World Heritage Area
Name of Area
|
Area added in 2013 (hectares)
|
Area to be removed (hectares)
|
Reason for Removal
|
Nelson Falls
|
1,116
|
0
|
-
|
Dove River
|
6,558
|
748
|
Contains disturbed areas
|
Upper Mersey
|
5,717
|
3,906
|
Contains logged/degraded areas
|
Mole Creek Karst
|
6,544
|
0
|
-
|
Great Western Tiers (Northern)
|
13,662
|
5,924
|
Contains logged/degraded areas
|
Great Western Tiers (Eastern)
|
26,291
|
3,668
|
Contains logged/degraded areas
|
Upper Derwent
|
18,573
|
16,193
|
Contains logged/degraded areas
|
Florentine
|
3,952
|
1,375
|
Contains plantations and logged/degraded areas
|
Mount Field
|
24,790
|
5,390
|
Contains logged/degraded areas
|
Mount Wedge – Upper Florentine
|
12,977
|
10,580
|
Contains logged/degraded areas
|
Styx-Tyenna
|
19,133
|
3,099
|
Contains plantations and logged/degraded areas
|
Weld-Snowy Range
|
8,757
|
5,778
|
Contains logged/degraded areas
|
Huon-Picton
|
12,204
|
6,587
|
Contains logged/degraded areas
|
Hartz-Esperance
|
7,347
|
6,873
|
Contains logged/degraded areas
|
Recherche
|
4,430
|
3,918
|
Contains logged/degraded areas
|
TOTAL (hectares)
|
172,051
|
74,039
|
|
1.45
The proposal further noted that:
While this approach has resulted in the loss of some
attributes...it has the benefit of minimizing the overall impact on the integrity
and coherence of the boundary. In some cases, consideration of these issues has
resulted in the proposal to reinstate the 2012 boundary for some sections.[45]
Justification for the modification
1.46
The 2014 boundary modification proposal states that:
...the excision of these areas from the property will enhance
the credibility of the World Heritage List by excluding areas that detract from
the Outstanding Universal Value and the overall integrity of the property.[46]
1.47
The proposal further states that the proposed modification seeks to
remove a number of areas in the extension that 'contain pine and eucalypt
plantations and previously logged forest' and that the Government:
...considers these areas detract from the Outstanding Universal
Value of the property and its overall integrity and that the assessment work
that included such areas in the property did not sufficiently take this in to
account.[47]
1.48
In addition, the proposal notes the Australian Government's concern
that:
...when taking its decision in June 2013, the World Heritage
Committee was not fully aware that a number of communities and landholders
whose properties adjoin the revised boundary did not support the extension and
did not consider they had adequate opportunity to comment on the proposed
change.[48]
1.49
Finally, the proposal states that 'there should be a long term
sustainable forest industry in Tasmania' and that the proposal 'will assist the
long term viability of the special species timber sector and local communities
that rely on these areas for their wellbeing'.
[49]
Navigation: Previous Page | Contents | Next Page