A UNITED Nations body has delivered two stinging rebukes to the Abbott Government in the space of a week over the way Australia is treating some of its environmental landmarks.

In a decision that lasted just 10 minutes, the UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee in Qatar last night denied the government’s request to open up Tasmania’s World Heritage Area to logging.

One UNESCO delegate even described the Abbott government move as “feeble”, according to a report in The Guardian.

Green groups had accused the government of pursuing the unprecedented delisting for ideological reasons.

The area was initially part of 170,000ha protected under Tasmania’s forest peace deal struck by former state and federal Labor governments. But Environment Minister Greg Hunt applied for the changes to UNESCO in February, a move that threatened to reignite decades of conflict over forestry in the island state.

It comes as UNESCO last week expressed its “concern” and “regret” over the government approving a coal terminal which could result in vast amounts of sludge being dumped into the waters near the Great Barrier Reef.

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Environment Tasmania spokesman Dr Phill Pullinger described last night’s decision as “a great relief for the wild forests of the Great Western Tiers, Weld Valley, Butlers Gorge and the Upper Florentine Valley”.

However, “much of Tasmania’s natural heritage remains at risk, with the Tasmanian Government aiming to turn vast areas of protected forest into logging zones”, Dr Pullinger said.

Federal forestry spokesman and Tasmanian senator Richard Colbeck has previously accused the green movement of spreading lies about the forest area in question.

He said much of it had been logged and some “old growth” was only 60 years old.