More than 400,000 hectares of protected native forest in Tasmania are to be opened up for logging after the Tasmanian government repealed the state’s forestry peace deal, which ended a 30-year battle between environmentalists and loggers.
The new Forestry (Rebuilding the Forest Industry) bill scraps the forestry peace deal introduced by the previous government to allow widespread logging, claiming the protection of forest has hindered job creation. The new bill allows access to a wider 1.1m hectares of previously protected forest for selective logging.
However, critics argue Tasmania’s forests are more valuable left standing and can be used for carbon storage and for generating jobs and revenue through tourism. Tasmania’s tourism industry employs around 15% of the state’s workforce compared to around 1% of people employed in the forestry sector.
Moreover, the forest areas that will be opened-up for logging are habitat for vulnerable and threatened species such as quolls, wedge-tailed eagles, Tasmanian devils and swift parrots.
By ripping up the forestry peace deal, the Tasmanian government has opened the doors to native forest destruction in a time when logging should cease for climate mitigation as well as ecosystem benefits.
It’s time for the government of Tasmania to let go of short term jobs from destroying forest for the long term benefits of protecting natural heritage. Please sign and share the petition to demand the government of Tasmania does not open the forests up for logging.
