The World Heritage Committee yesterday made a unanimous decision to maintain the World Heritage status of Tasmania’s forests. The Australian Government was an international embarrassment with it’s attempt to have 74,000 hectares of forest removed from the list, that had only been given World Heritage status at last year’s annual meeting.

Portugal spoke at length to support the protection of the forests, and indicating the way in which a de-listing would undermine the integrity of World Heritage. “Accepting this de-listing today would be setting an unacceptable precedent impossible to deny in similar circumstances in the future. If this committee cares for conservation according to responsible engagement of state parties to the convention when they submit their nominations, we cannot accept these requests to de-list” said the spokesperson for the Portuguese delegation.

Just as we did this time last year, everyone sat watching the online live feed from the World Heritage Committee. And I once again felt that flood of relief that came as the hammer went down to declare our forests still officially World Heritage listed.

Thank you to everyone who took part in the Global Action to #DefendWorldHeritage in the lead up to this meeting. We had thousands of people around the world, across 16 countries, standing up for Tasmania’s forests. You can check out the slideshow of images by clicking HERE. Or take a look at the mosaic poster below, designed by Emma Capp of Still Wild Still Threatened. Zoom in and see if you can find your photo!

This is a great success and I’m so proud to be a part of an international movement that has achieved such a fantastic outcome for our forests! Of course, we must not forget about what needs to be done next. There is still a long way to go to ensure that our forests have the real protection they deserve. And we need your help to keep the momentum going so that we can go from one success to another to another, until there’s is an end to the industrial scale destruction of our native forests.

Check out and share my opinion piece on ABC Environment (CLICK HERE), outlining why the campaign is far from over and what we need to fight for now to ensure our forests survive into the future.