THE ALPS- SOUTH EAST FORESTS WORLD HERITAGE CAMPAIGN
“This is indeed the most challenging and the most potentially rewarding heritage project in our history “ Dr Geoff Mosley AM.
The Colong Foundation is mounting a campaign for the
world heritage listing of the Alps and Eucalypt Forests of South East
Australia. The world heritage proposal dates back to 1977 and the State and Territory Governments have supported the
nomination of their respective parts for many years but being a cross
border proposal inter-government cooperation is necessary.
The most significant natural heritage value of the
proposal is the eucalypt-dominated sclerophyll vegetation
comprising coastal and alpine heaths and forests
that are displayed from the coast to Australia 's highest land
area – the Alps.
What you can do to help the Alps-South East Forests World Heritage Campaign
Some history of the world heritage proposal
What areas are included in the world heritage proposal?
The western link to Baw Baw National Park
Some history to the world heritage proposal
The lead in identifying the world heritage values of the area was taken by voluntary groups with studies by Broadbent, Blakers, Mosley and Costin. Then followed a series of official reports by Boden, Good, Busby, Kirkpatrick and Lennon all of which addressed what former Australian Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, referred to as “the strict criteria of the World Heritage Convention”. The groups supported a nomination which included the alps, the forests and the coastal areas of NSW and Victoria, and this was later supported by a World Heritage Expert Panel during regional forest assessments that took place across Australia in the mid to late 1990s.
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What areas are included in the world heritage proposal?
The proposal comprises a linked series of corridors connecting the coastal, escarpment and alpine areas of NSW and Victoria. A copy of the map showing the 25
initial areas in the proposal can be viewed on
this link. A
Memorandum of Understanding for co-operative the management of the forest
parks on either side of the Victorian and NSW border is close to
finalisation. This agreement will establish the structural changes to the
administration of park management to enable uniform management.
The Victorian Government is also due to legislate an
extension of the Alpine National Park to incorporate the Snowy River and
Errinundra National Parks.
Current Australian
Government policy is that the areas nominated must be
included in Australia 's National Heritage List (NHL) before a World Heritage
nomination is made. Recent amendments to the Environment Protection and
Biodiversity Conservation Act,1999 permit serial sites to be nominated
for the NHL. Since August 2005 the Colong Foundation's Working Group has
focused on nominating the areas involved for inclusion on Australia's National Heritage List. It will then begin to work on the World Heritage nomination.
The public can offer supporting comments on the areas as
they are nominated for National Heritage Listing by the Working Group, just go to the following DEWHA webpage:
http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/index.html
and search the National Heritage list for recent nominations.
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The western link to Baw Baw National Park
As an addition to the above scheme, Dr
Geoff Mosley has made a NHL nomination for the Western Alps, link as well
as a proposal to extend the Alpine National Park to the Baw Baw National
Park to strengthen this link. A map of this proposed reserve extension
proposal can be viewed on this link.
The Western Alps extension would link Mt
Baw Baw National Park and the currently isolated Mt Skene Reserve with the
Alpine National Park. Details of this link reserve can be found on
this link.
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The eastern link proposes an East Gippsland Forests
National Park
Another
step towards the realisation of a complete ‘sea to snow’ megalinkage has
been taken with the proposal of an East Gippsland Forests National Park.
The proposal involves joining up the six existing national parks in East
Gippsland to form a super national park in much the same way as happened
in New South Wales in 1997 when five national parks were merged and
extended to create the South East Forests National Park. A map of the East
Gippsland Forests National Park can be viewed on
this link.Details of the grand plan for an
East Gippsland Forests
National Park can be found on this link
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What you can do to help the Alps-South East Forests World Heritage Campaign
1) Join the world heritage working group
In July 2005 the Board of the Colong Foundation decided to set up a Working Group and the membership is currently being extended to include people representative of various relevant fields of expertise and the different regions.
The World Heritage listing for the 'sea to snow' Alps
and South East Forest is well overdue.
If you would like to join the working group, please contact
Geoff Mosley on (03) 9718 2998 or Keith Muir at the Colong Foundation (02) 9261 2400,
foundation@colongwilderness.org.au
2) Support the Working Group's sea to snow
national park consolidation proposals in Victoria.
Write a letter to the Victorian Minister for the
Environment, and the Shadow Minister for the Environment seeking their
support for integrating the national parks in East Gippsland and the Baw
Baw National Park with the Alpine National Park. A guide letter is located
on this link.
3) Also write letters the Federal Environment Minister, Shadow
Environment Minister and other key Parliamentarians in other states to your support of the Alps - South East Forests World Heritage proposal.
Commonwealth, New South Wales and ACT Governments should request the
Victorian Government support these two park projects through the
Australian Alps Ministerial Council. A guide letter and contact addresses
so that you can make these representations is found on
this link.
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