Background to the GBRWHA ‘Framework for Management’ report

At the World Heritage Bureau meeting in Paris in July 1999, the Bureau considered a report by the Australian Committee for IUCN (ACIUCN) on the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. The Bureau requested that ACIUCN and the State Party (ie the Australian Government) “… review the 29 recommendations listed in the ACIUCN report and elaborate a more focused set of recommendations and develop a detailed plan for implementation and monitoring those recommendations.”

The ACIUCN Executive and a small working group therefore developed a set of focussed recommendations comprising five priority action areas:

1. The Management of Land and Coastal Catchments
2. The Management of Fisheries
3. The Management of Shipping and Ship-sourced Marine Pollution
4. Representative Marine Protected Areas
5. Resources for Research and Management.
   

GBRMPA, on behalf of the Australian Government, then developed a framework for the implementation and monitoring of these focussed recommendations.

Both the ACIUCN ‘Focussed Recommendations’ and the GBRMPA’s ‘Framework for Management’ were submitted to the December 1999 session of the World Heritage Committee. The Committee "...accepted the ‘Focussed Recommendations’ and the ‘Framework for Management’ of the GBRWHA as a basis for monitoring the implementation of those recommendations. The Committee commended the process and the product arising from the consultative approach. …The Committee invited the State Party to submit progress reports on the implementation of the ‘Focussed Recommendations’ …..".

The first progress report on the ‘Framework for Management’ was compiled in August 2000 and was considered by the World Heritage Bureau at the Cairns meeting in November 2000.

The second progress report was compiled in December 2002 and was considered by the World Heritage Bureau at the meeting in 2003.

Periodic Reporting

The first World Heritage ‘Periodic Report’ for the Asia-Pacific region was completed and submitted to the World Heritage Committee meeting in June 2003. The Asian-Pacific Periodic Report will compiled specific information on 96 World Heritage properties/sites located in 36 countries that were inscribed on the World Heritage List before or in 1994. It is compiled in a format stipulated by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and has two Parts:

• Part I – Application of World Heritage Convention by the State Party (i.e. Australia) prepared by the Department of the Environment and Heritage for all Australian World Heritage sites.
• Part II - State of Conservation for individual World Heritage properties. The GBRMPA prepared Part II for the GBR World Heritage Area.

Related Links

• Frequently Asked Questions about the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area