diff --git a/cogl/cogl-bitmap.c b/cogl/cogl-bitmap.c
index 5341e9804..622364420 100644
--- a/cogl/cogl-bitmap.c
+++ b/cogl/cogl-bitmap.c
@@ -51,9 +51,6 @@ _cogl_bitmap_free (CoglBitmap *bmp)
   if (bmp->buffer)
     cogl_object_unref (bmp->buffer);
 
-  if (bmp->context)
-    cogl_object_unref (bmp->context);
-
   g_slice_free (CoglBitmap, bmp);
 }
 
@@ -167,7 +164,7 @@ cogl_bitmap_new_for_data (CoglContext *context,
   g_return_val_if_fail (cogl_is_context (context), NULL);
 
   bmp = g_slice_new (CoglBitmap);
-  bmp->context = cogl_object_ref (context);
+  bmp->context = context;
   bmp->format = format;
   bmp->width = width;
   bmp->height = height;
diff --git a/cogl/cogl-buffer.c b/cogl/cogl-buffer.c
index 92169eefc..ffd1ef16b 100644
--- a/cogl/cogl-buffer.c
+++ b/cogl/cogl-buffer.c
@@ -300,14 +300,14 @@ _cogl_buffer_initialize (CoglBuffer           *buffer,
                          CoglBufferUsageHint   usage_hint,
                          CoglBufferUpdateHint  update_hint)
 {
-  buffer->context       = cogl_object_ref (context);
-  buffer->flags         = COGL_BUFFER_FLAG_NONE;
+  buffer->context = context;
+  buffer->flags = COGL_BUFFER_FLAG_NONE;
   buffer->store_created = FALSE;
-  buffer->size          = size;
-  buffer->last_target   = default_target;
-  buffer->usage_hint    = usage_hint;
-  buffer->update_hint   = update_hint;
-  buffer->data          = NULL;
+  buffer->size = size;
+  buffer->last_target = default_target;
+  buffer->usage_hint = usage_hint;
+  buffer->update_hint = update_hint;
+  buffer->data = NULL;
   buffer->immutable_ref = 0;
 
   if (use_malloc)
@@ -339,8 +339,6 @@ _cogl_buffer_fini (CoglBuffer *buffer)
     GE( buffer->context, glDeleteBuffers (1, &buffer->gl_handle) );
   else
     g_free (buffer->data);
-
-  cogl_object_unref (buffer->context);
 }
 
 GLenum
diff --git a/cogl/cogl-context.h b/cogl/cogl-context.h
index 719b6ca70..0c6f0b542 100644
--- a/cogl/cogl-context.h
+++ b/cogl/cogl-context.h
@@ -66,6 +66,25 @@ G_BEGIN_DECLS
  * design since it helps you write orthogonal rendering components
  * that can all access the same GPU without having to worry about
  * what state other components have left you with.
+ *
+ * <note>Cogl does not maintain internal references to the context for
+ * resources that depend on the context so applications. This is to
+ * help applications control the lifetime a context without us needing to
+ * introduce special api to handle the breakup of internal circular
+ * references due to internal resources and caches associated with the
+ * context.
+ *
+ * One a context has been destroyed then all directly or indirectly
+ * dependant resources will be in an inconsistent state and should not
+ * be manipulated or queried in any way.
+ *
+ * For applications that rely on the operating system to clean up
+ * resources this policy shouldn't affect them, but for applications
+ * that need to carefully destroy and re-create Cogl contexts multiple
+ * times throughout their lifetime (such as Android applications) they
+ * should be careful to destroy all context dependant resources, such as
+ * framebuffers or textures etc before unrefing and destroying the
+ * context.<note>
  */
 
 #ifdef COGL_ENABLE_EXPERIMENTAL_API
diff --git a/cogl/cogl-framebuffer.c b/cogl/cogl-framebuffer.c
index 31bf00973..3802b6395 100644
--- a/cogl/cogl-framebuffer.c
+++ b/cogl/cogl-framebuffer.c
@@ -162,24 +162,24 @@ _cogl_framebuffer_init (CoglFramebuffer *framebuffer,
                         int width,
                         int height)
 {
-  framebuffer->context = cogl_object_ref (ctx);
+  framebuffer->context = ctx;
 
-  framebuffer->type             = type;
-  framebuffer->width            = width;
-  framebuffer->height           = height;
-  framebuffer->format           = format;
-  framebuffer->viewport_x       = 0;
-  framebuffer->viewport_y       = 0;
-  framebuffer->viewport_width   = width;
-  framebuffer->viewport_height  = height;
-  framebuffer->dither_enabled   = TRUE;
+  framebuffer->type = type;
+  framebuffer->width = width;
+  framebuffer->height = height;
+  framebuffer->format = format;
+  framebuffer->viewport_x = 0;
+  framebuffer->viewport_y = 0;
+  framebuffer->viewport_width = width;
+  framebuffer->viewport_height = height;
+  framebuffer->dither_enabled = TRUE;
 
-  framebuffer->modelview_stack  = _cogl_matrix_stack_new ();
+  framebuffer->modelview_stack = _cogl_matrix_stack_new ();
   framebuffer->projection_stack = _cogl_matrix_stack_new ();
 
-  framebuffer->dirty_bitmasks   = TRUE;
+  framebuffer->dirty_bitmasks = TRUE;
 
-  framebuffer->color_mask       = COGL_COLOR_MASK_ALL;
+  framebuffer->color_mask = COGL_COLOR_MASK_ALL;
 
   framebuffer->samples_per_pixel = 0;
 
@@ -240,7 +240,6 @@ _cogl_framebuffer_free (CoglFramebuffer *framebuffer)
   cogl_object_unref (framebuffer->journal);
 
   ctx->framebuffers = g_list_remove (ctx->framebuffers, framebuffer);
-  cogl_object_unref (ctx);
 
   if (ctx->current_draw_buffer == framebuffer)
     ctx->current_draw_buffer = NULL;
diff --git a/cogl/cogl-gles2-context.c b/cogl/cogl-gles2-context.c
index 358570561..47f99b7c9 100644
--- a/cogl/cogl-gles2-context.c
+++ b/cogl/cogl-gles2-context.c
@@ -1528,8 +1528,6 @@ _cogl_gles2_context_free (CoglGLES2Context *gles2_context)
                                  NULL);
     }
 
-  cogl_object_unref (gles2_context->context);
-
   g_free (gles2_context->vtable);
 
   g_free (gles2_context);
@@ -1601,7 +1599,6 @@ cogl_gles2_context_new (CoglContext *ctx, GError **error)
 
   gles2_ctx = g_malloc0 (sizeof (CoglGLES2Context));
 
-  cogl_object_ref (ctx);
   gles2_ctx->context = ctx;
 
   COGL_LIST_INIT (&gles2_ctx->foreign_offscreens);
@@ -1610,7 +1607,6 @@ cogl_gles2_context_new (CoglContext *ctx, GError **error)
   gles2_ctx->winsys = winsys->context_create_gles2_context (ctx, error);
   if (gles2_ctx->winsys == NULL)
     {
-      cogl_object_unref (gles2_ctx->context);
       g_free (gles2_ctx);
       return NULL;
     }
diff --git a/cogl/cogl-glib-source.c b/cogl/cogl-glib-source.c
index 1c042ee62..adbd4d851 100644
--- a/cogl/cogl-glib-source.c
+++ b/cogl/cogl-glib-source.c
@@ -159,8 +159,6 @@ cogl_glib_source_finalize (GSource *source)
 {
   CoglGLibSource *cogl_source = (CoglGLibSource *) source;
 
-  cogl_object_unref (cogl_source->context);
-
   g_array_free (cogl_source->poll_fds, TRUE);
 }
 
@@ -184,7 +182,7 @@ cogl_glib_source_new (CoglContext *context,
                          sizeof (CoglGLibSource));
   cogl_source = (CoglGLibSource *) source;
 
-  cogl_source->context = cogl_object_ref (context);
+  cogl_source->context = context;
   cogl_source->poll_fds = g_array_new (FALSE, FALSE, sizeof (GPollFD));
 
   if (priority != G_PRIORITY_DEFAULT)
diff --git a/cogl/cogl2-path.c b/cogl/cogl2-path.c
index f7327aebe..e4dad30ea 100644
--- a/cogl/cogl2-path.c
+++ b/cogl/cogl2-path.c
@@ -96,8 +96,6 @@ _cogl_path_data_unref (CoglPathData *data)
 
       g_array_free (data->path_nodes, TRUE);
 
-      cogl_object_unref (data->context);
-
       g_slice_free (CoglPathData, data);
     }
 }
@@ -124,7 +122,6 @@ _cogl_path_modify (CoglPath *path)
       path->data->fill_attribute_buffer = NULL;
       path->data->stroke_attribute_buffer = NULL;
       path->data->ref_count = 1;
-      cogl_object_ref (path->data->context);
 
       _cogl_path_data_unref (old_data);
     }
@@ -908,7 +905,7 @@ cogl2_path_new (void)
   data = path->data = g_slice_new (CoglPathData);
 
   data->ref_count = 1;
-  data->context = cogl_object_ref (ctx);
+  data->context = ctx;
   data->fill_rule = COGL_PATH_FILL_RULE_EVEN_ODD;
   data->path_nodes = g_array_new (FALSE, FALSE, sizeof (CoglPathNode));
   data->last_path = 0;