Devastation in Bermagui State Forest, SE NSW

It was good to be back in southeast NSW this week. But it was not so good to see the latest round of forest devastation.

I was in the south for the local Walk Against Warming, and the day before the rally I visited the locals' protest vigil and a few of us walked into the prohibited area in Bermagui State Forest. We did not get to where the logging was being carried out but the damage was clearly apparent as a jigger loaded with ten logs was parked not far off the road.

A forest worker told us that they were veneer logs destined for Echuca. This 800 kilometre trip from Bermagui further underlies how badly planned this industry is. There should be no native logging. Operations need to shift to plantation timber in this region with value adding occurring locally not via a long greenhouse gas intensive trip.

The climate change implications of forestry are now much clearer thanks to the ground breaking "Green Carbon" report by Professor Brendan Mackey at the Australian National University.

Federal and state Labor governments cannot ignore this research. It is time they undertook an urgent rethink on their forestry policies. The Mackey research shows that after protecting mature forests, the next biggest greenhouse impact in terms of forest policy that we can make is to allow previously disturbed forest to regrow to maturity.

Untouched forests store three times more carbon dioxide than previously estimated by the IPCC and the Kyoto Protocol. Stopping logging in NSW and Victorian southeast native forests is estimated to be equivalent to avoiding emissions of 136 million tonnes of carbon dioxide – this is an annual rate of emissions equivalent to 24 per cent of Australia’s net greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors in 2006.

Professor Mackey has concluded that protecting native forest is no longer an option, it is essential.

This data has given a renewed boost to the local campaign calling for the closure of the woodchip mill and an end to native forest logging in the southeast.

In 1995 then opposition leader Bob Carr wrote to Ian Cohen promising to close the chipmill by 2000. Eight years later the loss of habitat and the damage to the local economy is extreme.

The perennial argument of the forest trashers that logging equals jobs does not stack up. This is a capital-intensive industry employing a handful of jobs in the southeast. It requires more than $I million investment to provide one job.

The reality is that the environmental vandalism in the southeast forests is robbing this region of hundreds of jobs. Promoting the natural beauty of the region to attract more visitors is a tough call when the view is marred by trashed forests and polluted waterways. Current forestry practices are damaging the oyster and fishing industry.

But back to the protest – every action needs a catchy image and the campaign to save the southeast native forests and close the Eden woodchip has a winner. Check out this courageous little koala hitching a ride out of Bermagui because it lost its home to logging.

When my colleague Ian Cohen questioned the Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald about the impact of logging on koalas he was emphatic that the koalas are not under threat. He stated, "We believe that that is a furphy that has been put about by people who have no evidence. … I believe the forest is being sustainably logged."

Mr Macdonald should have the courage to visit this region and he would realise how wrong he is. I was given information about recent koala sitings and the Narooma News reports that a survey program, a joint project between the National Parks Service and the local Crossing Land Education Centre and Aboriginal students from Bega and Eden found fresh koala scats just one kilometre from logging operations in the Bermagui State Forest.

Knowing Mr Macdonald's track record he wont move to investigate this important find.

But the Minister will hear a lot more about the campaign to end logging in southeast native forests. 2009 is shaping up as a year of concerted campaigning by the Greens to close Eden chipmill. Bega Greens is joining forces with Sydney based Greens groups to boost this campaign. Marrickville will be our focus for some great actions – local member and Environment Minister Carmel Tebbutt could save herself a lot of work if she moved now to end native forest logging in the southeast. So watch this space.