Recognition & protection

Many of the World Heritage and other values of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (TWWHA) have been studied, assessed and documented.

Monitoring is crucial for adaptive management but methods developed to do so have not been adequately resourced.

There have been significant expansions of the TWWHA since it was first listed as World Heritage in 1982 but a boundary that both includes all important values and facilitates effective management of these has yet to be achieved.

Values

Monitoring

Boundary

Highland rainforest stream, Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. Photo: Grant Dixon.

Highland rainforest stream, Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. Photo: Grant Dixon.

“… the Southwest Tasmanian wilderness is exceptional in size, quality and diversity in the Australian context and in the temperate regions of the world. As such it is of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science and conservation. The specific features of world heritage value which it contains only serve to enhance its value as an item of world heritage.”

PETER HITCHCOCK, COMMISSIONER, COMMISSION OF INQUIRY INTO THE LEMONTHYME AND SOUTHERN FORESTS, 1988