Greater Blue Mountains Area

• Air transport infrastructure (construction of the Western Sydney Airport)
• Mining
• Water infrastructure (proposed raising of the Warragamba Dam wall)
• Unprecedented fires that affected large parts of the property

N/A

On 1 December 2022, the State Party submitted a report on the state of conservation of the property, which is available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/917/documents/ and reports the following:

• Bushfires of 2019–2020 impacted approximately 739,906 hectares (71%) of the property. Fire intensity varied across the property, resulting in variable impacts in different areas. These areas, and the species they contain, are expected to recover at different rates, and comprehensive monitoring has been put in place to track their ongoing health and recovery;
• Recovery actions including targeted feral animal and weed control, upgrades to fire trails, erosion control, First Nations-led healing of Country and threatened species conservation activities are underway. The property is also a priority under the national Threatened Species Action Plan 2022–2032;
• The State Party supports in principle, all recommendations of the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements (Royal Commission) directed to the Commonwealth. The recommendations are under implementation, and the details of the implementation of the 80 recommendations are available on the National Emergency Management Agency website;
• Between 2020 and 2022, the New South Wales (NSW) Government provided funding packages of over AU$275 million (ca. USD 180 million) in response to the NSW Bushfire Inquiry, and increased the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) capacity for hazard reduction and bushfire response;
• Lessons learned from the 2019–2020 bushfires in the property are available to other States Parties in reports and web links;
• The flooding events of early and mid-2022 along the east coast of Australia caused landslides, tree falls, flood debris, and major repeat damage to facilities and infrastructure. Damage is still being assessed in more remote areas. Subsequent NSW Parliamentary and independent flood inquiries provided a number of recommendations which have been supported or supported in principle by the NSW Government. Implementation of some bushfire impact assessment and recovery actions, such as pest and weed control activities, was delayed as a result of the flooding;
• The proposed raising of the Warragamba Dam wall would temporarily inundate areas of the property and is being subject to an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS);
• The residual risk to the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property as a result of mining in areas adjacent to the property remains low. The NSW Government decided, in December 2021 and May 2022 respectively, not to open up for exploration the Hawkins and Rumker, and Ganguddy-Kelgoola areas, near the property, for environmental, cultural and commercial reasons;
• Preliminary flight path design for the Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport began in 2021, and once complete, the final design will be assessed through an EIS process, including identifying impacts on OUV;
• An update of the 2009 Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area Strategic Plan is underway, including consideration of all potential threats to the property.

On 29 September 2021, the State Party submitted information to the World Heritage Centre, that the EIS for the Warragamba Dam Wall Raising project had been made available for public review and comment, and invited the World Heritage Centre and IUCN to submit comments. On 10 January 2022, the World Heritage Centre sent a letter to the State Party conveying third-party information concerns regarding the EIS for the proposed raising of the Warragamba Dam wall and proposed mining activities adjacent to the Wollemi National Park component of the property.

On 12 January 2022, the World Heritage Centre sent a letter to the State Party transmitting IUCN’s technical review of the EIS and, on 7 March 2022, a letter requesting clarification on the subsequent approval process. On 19 January 2022, the State Party transmitted the assessment of potential cumulative impacts of mining on the property.

On 5 April 2022, the State Party responded to the letters of 10 and 12 January and 7 March 2022, confirming details of the EIS and project approval processes, and highlighted the findings of the mining assessment in response to third party concerns. IUCN’s technical review of the mining assessment was transmitted to the State Party on 22 November 2022.

On 22 November 2022, the State Party sent a letter to the World Heritage Centre inviting comments by IUCN on the Priority Infrastructure (PI) Report and Response to Submission (RTS) Report on the Warragamba Dam EIS.

On 28 February 2023, the State Party acknowledged receipt of the IUCN review of the mining assessment and confirmed further consideration of how the findings of the review align with environmental impact assessment processes.

On 4 April 2023, the World Heritage Centre transmitted IUCN’s review of the RTS Report, noting the conclusion of the review that the project, as proposed, would have direct impacts on the OUV and strongly recommending the State Party not to proceed with the project as proposed.

On 23 May 2023, the State Party sent a letter to the World Heritage Centre including the information that work on the proposed raising of the Warragamba Dam wall has ceased after receiving formal direction from Infrastructure NSW that the project will not proceed. In addition, updates were provided on investments to support post-fire recovery; funding to undertake consultations with First Nations to guide strategic management of the property and publication of updated climate variability assessment of World Heritage properties in Australia and a climate change toolkit for Australia’s World Heritage property managers to undertake comprehensive climate change adaptation planning.

Extreme weather events in the form of bushfires and flooding between 2019 and 2022 have posed major management challenges for the property. While the property is recognized for its dynamic interactions with natural processes including fire, the scale of the 2019/20 bushfires, affecting around 71% of the property raises great concern for its recovery. Noting the reported varied degree of impact and anticipated recovery in different areas of the property, as well as the delay in the assessment of impacts due to flooding, it will be important to continue to monitor the ongoing health and recovery of these areas and species. The funding to support activities in this regard is noted with appreciation. The State Party should be encouraged to continue the recovery actions, including on invasive species and erosion control, fire management, and threatened species conservation activities.

The recommendations of the Royal Commission address important measures in order to strengthen emergency management in response to future disasters within the property as well as climate and natural disaster risk reduction, and therefore the State Party should be requested to continue implementing the recommendations in order to promote the recovery of the property from previous disasters, and to increase its resilience to climate change. It is welcomed that the lessons learned from the 2019-2020 bushfires have been made available by the State Party through reports and weblinks published online, as well as the publication of the updated climate variability assessment and climate change adaptation toolkit for the site managers.

Regarding the impacts of the flooding on the ongoing management of the property, the State Party should be requested to implement the recommendations of the inquiries into the floods. The State Party should also be requested to fully assess any damage to the attributes of the property’s OUV from flooding alongside efforts to restore infrastructure essential for the effective management of the property.

It is welcomed that the proposed raising of the Warragamba Dam wall will not proceed, given that the wall raising would result in periodic temporary inundation of areas within the property, and therefore would have been likely to directly affect the OUV of the property, including cultural associations linked to its integrity.

The conclusion of the assessment of the potential cumulative impacts of mining adjacent to the property that the residual risk to the OUV of the property is considered to be low is noted. The State Party should be requested to use the findings of the assessment to inform a strategic approach for the approval of future and management of current mining projects, which avoids cumulative impacts from mining activity to the OUV of the property and considers the other recommendations made in the IUCN technical review of the assessment.

The updating of the 2009 Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area Strategic Plan is encouraging and the State Party should ensure that potential threats to the property from activities outside its boundaries, in particular mining activities, are fully considered in the development of this management framework.

It is noted that the preliminary flight path design for the Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport began in 2021, including confirmation that the final design will be assessed by an EIS process. The State Party should be requested to ensure that the impact assessment process is in line with the new Guidance and Toolkit for Impact Assessments in a World Heritage Context.