Japan’s paper companies targeted

Geoff Law, Ula Majewski Wilderness Society/Still Wild Still Threatened
“We are calling on the Japanese pulp-and-paper companies to stop buying woodchips that are sourced from oldgrowth and high-conservation-value forests in Tasmania” said Ula Majewski, spokesperson for Still Wild Still Threatened. The report’s main findings are:
MEDIA RELEASE 11 December 2008

REPORT ON OLDGROWTH LOGGING TARGETS JAPANESE PAPER COMPANIES

Vast majority of oldgrowth woodchips are exported, say conservation groups

Japanese pulp-and-paper companies will be the main recipients of a new report detailing the destruction of oldgrowth forests in Tasmania that has been prepared by the Wilderness Society and Still Wild Still Threatened.

The two organisations have combined to pool their knowledge about logging in Tasmania’s oldgrowth forests. ‘Oldgrowth for Export’ presents a case study of oldgrowth logging in the Derwent forests and numerous tables, charts, maps and photographs. It draws together information from a range of disparate sources, including Forestry Tasmania, the Regional Forest Agreement, the Forest Practices Authority and the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics, in order to paint a picture of where the logs from Tasmania’s oldgrowth forests go. The report refutes claims circulating in international pulp-industry circles that Tasmanian woodchips do not contain oldgrowth.

“Oldgrowth forests in Tasmania are being destroyed by logging and over 85% of the logs extracted from those forests are turned into woodchips for export,’ said Geoff Law, Wilderness Society Campaign Manager.

“We are calling on the Japanese pulp-and-paper companies to stop buying woodchips that are sourced from oldgrowth and high-conservation-value forests in Tasmania” said Ula Majewski, spokesperson for Still Wild Still Threatened.

The report’s main findings are:

Approximately 78% of the original extent of tall-eucalypt forests have already been cleared or are available for logging;
61 000 hectares of tall-eucalypt RFA oldgrowth are currently unprotected from logging;
The dominant product from logging of Tasmania’s public native forests is pulpwood (86%), with less than 5% becoming solid wood products;
The vast majority of pulpwood from Tasmanian native forests – and an even higher proportion of pulpwood sourced from publicly-owned RFA oldgrowth forests – are exported by Gunns Ltd as woodchips;
A significant proportion (at the absolute lowest, 20%) of woodchips from mature and oldgrowth forests are exported to Japan.

“This report presents irrefutable evidence to show significant tracts of tall-eucalypt oldgrowth and other high-conservation-value forests in Tasmania are being woodchipped and exported to Japan by Gunns Ltd,” said Ms Majewski.

“The industrial-scale logging and woodchipping of Tasmania’s oldgrowth and high-conservation-value forests will continue unless decision-makers in the political and corporate arenas take immediate action to protect these globally-significant forests” concluded Mr Law.