082 - Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area
082 - Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area
ALARMED that the Government of New South Wales (NSW) is continuing to push ahead with processes designed to facilitate the raising of the Warragamba Dam, given its location within the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area that would inundate over 1,000 hectares of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area and 3,700 hectares of the surrounding National Park, considered essential to the integrity of the property at the time of nomination;
CONCERNED that the NSW Government’s publicly stated intention is to raise the Warragamba Dam wall by 14 m, which will result in the regular flooding of 65 km of streams and rivers, home to eucalyptus forests and threatened species habitat;
CONCERNED that over 300 indigenous cultural sites would be inundated under the proposal to raise the Warragamba Dam wall;
AWARE that the Australian Government has stated that “The impact of increased flood water levels within the dam is likely to have extensive and significant impacts on listed threatened species and communities and world and national heritage values of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area”; and
CONCERNED that the cumulative impacts of coal mining within the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, notably water pollution and cliff collapse, are impacting upon the Outstanding Universal Values of the site;
1. CALLS ON the State Government of NSW to abandon all plans to raise the Warragamba Dam wall;
2. CALLS ON the Government of Australia to refuse all approvals for the raising of the Warragamba Dam wall and any other developments which would impact the Outstanding Universal Values of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area; and
3.ENCOURAGES the IUCN World Heritage Programme to continue to flag concerns regarding the Warragamba Dam-raising project, along with any other threats (post-NSW bushfires) to the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, through mechanisms such as World Heritage Outlook.
