SARAH FERGUSON, PRESENTER: This weekend, the fate of some of Tasmania's most prized forests will be debated at a meeting of the United Nations World Heritage Committee in Qatar.

The Abbott Government wants to wind back part of the World Heritage status that now covers almost a quarter of the island state, claiming the extension of protected areas last year was unwarranted.

If successful, Australia would be the only developed country to have World Heritage protection reversed.

Environmentalists are fighting the move. Michael Atkin reports.

MICHAEL ATKIN, REPORTER: Tasmania's wilderness could once again become the battleground in the bitter forest wars that consumed the state for decades.

SARA COOPER, PROTESTOR: Absolutely. I would come, I would come and I would get in front of the bulldozers, absolutely.

CHRISTINE MILNE, GREENS LEADER: They are listed as World Heritage, they stand as World Heritage and we're going to keep them as World Heritage.

(Applause from audience)

MICHAEL ATKIN: That new fight began last year when 172,000 hectares of forest was protected by the World Heritage Committee after an application by the former Gillard Government.

VICA BAYLEY, WILDERNESS SOCIETY: What last year's nomination and approval did was finally resolve decades worth of conflict and contestation over where the eastern boundary of the World Heritage area should be. And it's an absolutely reckless act for the Abbott Government to now try to axe them out of the World Heritage area so they can be logged.

MICHAEL ATKIN: This is one of the forests at the centre of the conflict, the Upper Florentine, two hours' drive from Hobart.

VICA BAYLEY: This is what it's all about. One of the valleys is not only giant trees, but a contiguous band of tall, wet forest that runs all the way up the boundary of the World Heritage area.

MICHAEL ATKIN: But a key area of dispute is the amount of degraded forest. This World Heritage area is just starting to recover from recent industrial logging.

Vica, we're in the middle of the World Heritage area, but have a look at it.

VICA BAYLEY: Well, look, this should never have been logged in the first place, but using small areas of recovering logged places like this as a justification for excising the entire valley, including intact natural vegetation, simply lacks credibility.

TONY ABBOTT, THEN OPPOSITION LEADER: Tasmania needs to be an economy as well as a national park.

MICHAEL ATKIN: Everything changed with the election of state and federal conservative governments.

The Coalition never accepted the World Heritage decision, labelling it a sham that detracted from other World Heritage areas.

ERIC ABETZ, GOVERNMENT SENATE LEADER: This was a political fix by a few interested parties that did not have the state or the national interest at heart. The whole currency and meaning of World Heritage listing will be demeaned if this listing is maintained.

MICHAEL ATKIN: At a meeting that starts this weekend, the Abbott Government will plead its case for UNESCO to reverse protection for almost half of the 2013 World Heritage extension.

TONY ABBOTT, PRIME MINISTER: Why should we lock up as some kind of World Heritage sanctuary country which has been logged, degraded or planted for timber?

MICHAEL ATKIN: Boat builder Andrew Denman supports the Government's move. He claims the locking up of forest has made it harder to get the special timber he needs.

ANDREW DENMAN, BOAT BUILDER: It is difficult because if someone comes to us and said, "We'd like to build a 40-foot yacht," I couldn't say to them with any guarantee that we could get the timber.

MICHAEL ATKIN: But in a major setback to the Government, a draft expert decision advised the World Heritage committee to knock back the proposal, calling it clearly inappropriate because 85 per cent of the area is natural forest.

Senior Government minister and Tasmanian senator Eric Abetz says Australia is pushing on with the delisting.

ERIC ABETZ: Some of the areas that they claim are worthy of protection have in fact been harvested in the past; some on their now third rotation of regrowth. There are also eucalypt plantations.

PETER HITCHCOCK, HERITAGE CONSULTANT: The facts are that the great majority of the area that is proposed for delisting is unlogged, pristine forest.

MICHAEL ATKIN: Peter Hitchcock is an international consultant on World Heritage values. He was an advisor on last year's World Heritage extension and claims the Abbott Government is being deliberately misleading.

PETER HITCHCOCK: If you have a look at the submission, there's almost no reference to World Heritage values. There's only reference to "disturbance", and then that is not quantified. It just classifies these various areas as "disturbed".

ERIC ABETZ: I repudiate that completely and I simply ask the Australian people and any viewer of your program tonight, "Do you actually believe that a pine plantation is worthy of World Heritage protection?"

MICHAEL ATKIN: These environmentalists from key organisations like the Bob Brown Foundation and The Wilderness Society will fly to the World Heritage meeting to try and stop the rollback. They're meeting in Hobart to hone the message they will deliver to the 21 voting countries.

GEOFF LAW, ENVIRONMENTALIST: The Australian Government's proposal list this year is basically full of false claims.

MICHAEL ATKIN: Environment groups have been holding large public rallies as a show of strength in the leadup to the decision. If they lose, they warn they'll be back to protest in force.

VICA BAYLEY: Undoubtedly, if they are delisted and undoubtedly if logging was to start in these areas, there would be a new heightened community concern and people will come out of the woodwork to stand up for these forests again.

SARAH FERGUSON: Michael Atkin reporting.