LOGGING AND CLEARING OF AUSTRALIA'S NATIVE FORESTS
The logging and clearing of Australia's native forests is not sustainable. Over 50% of our forests are gone and over 70% of what is left is severely degraded. In this island continent, the driest continent on earth, we have failed to take care of one of our most precious national assets, our forests. |
Regional Forest Agreements don't work
For nearly 20 years native forest logging has received special treatment under the commonwealth government’s environmental laws (the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act ). Other industries contemplating actions that may have an impact on
matters of national environmental significance such as listed threatened species and World Heritage values require approval from the commonwealth Environment Minister. Native forest logging does not. The result has been catastrophic for wildlife and other forest values. For example the iconic Leadbeaters Possum has been moved from ‘endangered’ to ‘critically endangered’ due to habitat loss from fire and logging; the migratory Swift Parrot has been nominated for listing as ‘critically endangered’ due to clearing for plantations and logging in its Tasmanian breeding habitat. The environmental exemption for native forest logging applies to about 6.8 million hectares of native forest in Victoria, Tasmania, NSW and WA. It is governed by Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs) which are essentially 20year contracts between the Prime Minister on behalf of the commonwealth and the Premier of each state. The Coalition government plans to extend the RFAs and establish a 20 year rolling life for each. |
Ecologically sustainable forest management
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Logging Native forests is not economically viable
[1] Macintosh, A. The Australian native forest sector: causes of the decline and prospects for the future. Technical Brief No. 21., (The Australia Institute, 2013). |