Rally calls for Tas forest protection

5000 protesters have rallied in Hobart to oppose the delisting of Tasmania's World Heritage forests. Source: AAP

OPPONENTS of the Abbott government's bid to wind back Tasmania's World Heritage wilderness have rallied outside state parliament.

THE protest aims to pressure the government ahead of a World Heritage Committee meeting in Doha, Qatar, from Sunday.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott promised to wind the World Heritage Area (WHA) back during last year's election campaign and Environment Minister Greg Hunt applied to UNESCO in February.But green groups say 90 per cent of the area is intact and its listing ensures the integrity of the 1.6 million hectare World Heritage Area's border.The rally called on the World Heritage Committee to follow the recommendations of its expert advisors and reject the government's application when it meets in Doha next week."(The federal government's) primary argument is that it is so degraded by logging that it detracts from the rest of the property," Wilderness Society Tasmania campaign director, Vica Bayley, told AAP."But they have been hideously exposed over the last few months by expert advice, and some of their own internal advice, that says around 90 per cent of the area of the land they are proposing to excise is intact forest or other natural vegetation."Two advisory bodies to the committee say excising this forest from the WHA, as sought by the government, should not proceed, he said.A decision on the Tasmania application is expected on Friday or Saturday next week.Mr Bayley, part of a delegation of conservationists heading to Doha, said it was not too late for the government to withdraw its submission.The area slated for delisting is part of 172,000 hectares added last year as a result of a historic peace deal.The deal swapped forest reserves for green groups' support for the ailing logging industry.Federal government forestry spokesman and Tasmanian senator Richard Colbeck accused green groups of trying to dupe the community about the wilderness values of the forest by claiming it is "pristine, untouched old growth forest, when clearly it is not".

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