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7-Mar-2014 At 10:41:57 AM martym

Message

On 7/03/2014 james wrote:
>On 6/03/2014 nmonteith wrote:
>>That Abbott saying we should revoke World Heritage and National Park
>status
>>because an area has been logged is a slippery slope that applies to many
>>of our most famous National Parks. Outrages to think an area set aside
>>for conservation can be reversed. It reminds us all that nothing can
>be
>>taken for granted.
>
>slippery slope for sure, but there is a difference between National Park
>& world heritage? ie not all national parks are heritage listed?
>
>Setting aside national parks then doing nothing else to manage them seems
>silly, the parks & areas do need to be managed IMO. eg: so many areas
>in Qld are over-run by lantana, all the feral goats in the Grampians.
>National parks over-run by weeds & feral animals seems like waste.

World Heritage status is like a product endorsement - it identifies something has of incredible significance - and is basically a drawcard for tourism; investment & a pat on the back for the country. Hence - if you decide to "withdraw" (which I've never heard of anyone doing!) your status - you lose that endorsement... it's not legislated - it's like giving back a gold medal!
I'm sure there are instances where it's been removed because the country neglected something, but I doubt a country has actively said "please remove it so we CAN neglect it..."

National Parks are actually managed by state governments - usually their environment departments. In some cases, eg. the Blue Mountains, there are many rangers and support staff with a (small) budget to spend on track care, research and maintenance. Most probably have one ranger allocated with a central office responsible for 5 or 6. There is always pressure from industry to expand what you can / can't do in a National Park, there's no clear line. eg. some you to pay to enter, some have hotels in them, some have areas you can't enter at all.
Marine Parks are a classic example of how difficult it can be to manage!