Paul Oosting
Stern Report warns of impact of deforestation
Excerpts from Paul Oosting’s speech at the Hobart leg of the international day of action on globally warming, the Walk Against Warming which over 1200 people participated in …
Land-clearing and logging in Tasmania’s forests contribute more to global warming than all the cars and trucks on Tasmania’s roads, according to figures in the Tasmanian Government’s draft Climate Change Strategy.
Forests such as the Styx and Florentine are some of the best stores of carbon per hectare on the face of the planet and we are turning them into woodchips and smoke, woodchips themselves are then turned into paper which very quickly become greenhouse gases.
The call to protect native forests as carbon sinks was strengthened this week by the ground breaking Stern report. The report by Nick Stern, former World Bank economist says that:
“Emissions from deforestation are very significant — they are estimated to represent more than 18% of global emissions, a share greater than is produced by the global transport sector … Action to preserve the remaining areas of natural forest is needed urgently.”
The best things Tasmania can do to combat global warming is to keep our forests in the ground. But around 15,000 hectares of native forest are clearfelled and burnt each year, adding to global warming. The regenerating trees cannot replace the carbon released to the atmosphere during the short period that they are allowed to grow before being cut down again.
Gunns’ proposed pulp mill in Tasmania will contribute massively to globally warming. Over the lifespan of the project over 200,000 hectares of native forest will be felled to feed the mill. This will release over 110 million tonnes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, which is equivalent to all cars and trucks on Tassie’s road for 80 years.
Gunns also wants government accreditation to burn native forests to generate power for the pulp mill and for sale into the national electricity grid. If Gunns is successful they will deprive genuinely renewable industries such as wind power and solar energy of much-needed government subsidies.
Action must be taken now to combat global warming by protecting Tasmania’s native forests and stopping Gunns’ proposed pulp mill.
