The World Heritage Committee,
1. Having examined Document WHC-12/36.COM/7B.Add,
2. Recalling Decision 34 COM 7B.38, adopted at its 34th session (Brasilia, 2010),
3. Welcomes the State Party’s commitment under the Tasmanian Forests Intergovernmental Agreement to provide interim protection to forests adjacent to the property from logging activities while assessments are undertaken to identify the values of these area, including the Upper Florentine, and areas within the Styx, Huon, Picton and Counsel River Valleys;
4. Also welcomes the State Party’s intention to provide legislative protection to areas that are identified as being of conservation value, which may possibly include their nomination for inclusion within the property, in line with the Committee’s requests at its 32nd (Quebec City, 2008) and 34th (Brasilia, 2010) sessions that the State Party consider, at its own discretion, the potential for additional areas of Outstanding Universal Value to be added to the property;
5. Takes note however that a number of forest reserves adjoining the property appear to have been exempted from interim protection and that logging and road construction is ongoing in parts of the Styx, Huon, Picton and Counsel Areas, and requests the State Party to clarify in writing to the World Heritage Centre by 1 February 2013 that areas of potential Outstanding Universal Value are not exempted from interim protection, in order to retain their potential for possible addition to the World Heritage property;
6. Also takes note that the property’s existing monitoring structures together with the revision of the State of Tasmanian World Heritage Area Report in 2014 should provide comprehensive data on the impacts of adjacent forestry operations on the property’s integrity and values, and that this should inform the management of these impacts, and of adjoining forest reserves, within the framework of the 2015 Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Management Plan review;
7. Notes the continuing commitment of the State Party to resource support for Aboriginal cultural heritage, and reiterates its recommendation to increase property staff with cultural heritage specialists, in order to ensure the adequate protection and management of cultural sites both within the property and immediately outside the boundaries;
8. Welcomes the re-formed property Area Advisory Committee and recommends that it should include representatives of all stakeholders, including the Aboriginal community;
9. Also requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2015, an updated report on the state of conservation of the property, including data on the impacts of logging operations on the Outstanding Universal Value of the property and on the proposed management response, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 39th session in 2015.