Eat poo tony.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jun/23/un-rejects-australia-tasmanian-forest-heritageThe Federal Government has lost a bid to delist more than 70,000 hectares of forest from Tasmania's World Heritage Area (WHA).
The United Nations' World Heritage Committee, meeting in Doha, took just 10 minutes to reject the Government's application to reverse protection for 74,000 hectares.
The area was part of 170,000 hectares added to the WHA last year under Tasmania's forest peace deal enacted by the former state and federal Labor governments.
News of the decision was quickly welcomed by conservation groups, including former Greens leader Bob Brown who described the decision as a "global diplomatic humiliation" for the Abbott Government.
External Link: Bob Brown forest delisting tweet
The Coalition had argued the 74,000 hectares were degraded by previous logging and should be unlocked for the timber industry.
But opponents to the move said only 8.6 per cent of the forests had been disturbed, with the rest being pristine old-growth rainforest.
Speaking from Doha, delegates from Portugal said "accepting this delisting would set an unacceptable precedent".
Wilderness Society campaign manager Vica Bayley said the decision showed the world was behind preserving the forest.
"Over here in Doha, environmentalists and Aboriginal Tasmanians are together welcoming this decision because it does protect the integrity of the Tasmanian World Heritage Area and it would protect that in perpetuity," he said.
Seen as a twit world wide. Should retrain his respect by bagging punt again
