“Ending native forest logging nationwide will be as popular as Malcolm Fraser ending whaling in 1978 with huge public support. Prime Minister Albanese could stop the needless massacre of Australia’s forests and their wildlife.”
“We welcome this pledge with its breadth of signatories. It sends a clear message to governments and industry that wildlife, the environment, and our climate have suffered enough from the logging and burning of native forests. After decades of stripping Australia’s rich forests back to bare earth, sending wildlife to the brink of extinction and contributing to global heating, the remaining forests need rescuing immediately,” Jenny Weber, Bob Brown Foundation Campaigns Manager said.
“Protection and restoration of native forests can help repair the broken climate and reverse wildlife extinctions. For koalas, Swift Parrots, Greater Gliders, quolls and owls, secure native forest protection is overdue,” Jenny Weber said.
“An immediate end to native forest logging and the use of 100% plantations for our wood needs must include more effective domestic processing of Australia’s existing plantation estate for both domestic and international markets,” Scott Jordan, Bob Brown Foundation Campaigner said.
“There are significant issues with historic plantation management and practices that must be avoided. Poorly located and mismanaged plantations have led to weed proliferation, soil erosion, damaging impacts on water tables, and increased fire risks affecting communities and ecosystems. The loss of productive farmland associated with the ill-fated and ill-conceived Managed Investment Schemes are fresh in the minds of many and highlight the risks in plantation expansion incentives,” Scott Jordan said.
“Australia’s plantation estate needs reconfiguring rather than expanding, ending reliance on mass low-value woodchip exports, often to be burnt in high-carbon emitting electricity furnaces. Investment in higher value processing of plantation products, replacing imported timber products, presents the best path forward for the plantation sector,” Scott Jordan said.