Petition to save Tarkine tabled in Senate

The largest petition ever tabled in the Senate has called for Tasmania's Tarkine region to be world heritage listed and returned to Aboriginal ownership.

Bob Brown says the petition is a massive display of global concern for the Tarkine region. (AAP)

A petition to protect Tasmania's Tarkine region with 270,000 signatures from around the world has been presented to federal parliament.

The largest petition ever tabled in the Senate calls for the area to be world heritage-listed and returned to Aboriginal ownership.

Tasmanian Greens senators Nick McKim and Peter Whish-Wilson presented the petition to parliament on Wednesday.

Former Greens leader Bob Brown's foundation is driving the campaign along with American clothing company Patagonia.

Mr Brown said the petition was a massive display of global concern for the Tarkine, the largest unprotected wilderness in southern Australia.

"This warrants an explicit response from both the prime minister and the leader of the opposition. We would welcome both on a summer break trip to the Tarkine. To see it is to want to protect it," he said in a statement.