Decision 42 COM 7B.61

Tasmanian Wilderness (Australia) (C/N 181quinquies)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/18/42.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decision 40 COM 7B.66 adopted at its 40th session (Istanbul/UNESCO, 2016),
3. Welcomes the ongoing implementation of the recommendations of the 2015 mission through the new 2016 Management Plan for the property, particularly the ban on commercial logging along with mineral exploration and extraction within the property and the recommendations related to fire research and management, and encourages the State Party to continue its efforts in this regard;
4. Also welcomes the specific inclusion in the Management Plan of additional assessment criteria for commercial tourism proposals and requirements to consider potential impacts on the wilderness values of the property;
5. Urges the State Party to expedite the development of the Tourism Master Plan in order to ensure a strategic approach to tourism development within the property, in line with the primary goal of protecting its Outstanding Universal Value (OUV), and to submit the draft Tourism Master Plan to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies prior to its finalization;
6. Requests the State Party to finalize, as a matter of priority, the on-going process to designate Permanent Timber Production Zone Land (PTPZL) and Future Potential Production Forest Land (FPPFL) within the property as reserves;
7. Commends the State Party for the progress made with assessing cultural heritage assets by documenting archaeological and other research undertaken over the past 40 years;
8. Also encourages the State Party to implement the Detailed Plan for a Comprehensive Cultural Assessment of the property, in order to fully define both living and archaeological heritage and to support co-management of these resources with the Aboriginal communities; and further encourages it to use these data to complete the drafting of a Retrospective Statement of OUV;
9. Reiterates its recommendation to the State Party to add cultural heritage specialists to the property staff, in order to ensure the effective protection and management of cultural sites within the property;
10. Also requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 2019, an updated report on the state of conservation of the property and the implementation of the above, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 44th session in 2020.