Former Forestry Industry Association of Tasmania (FIAT) chairman Dr Julian Amos clearly has scant respect for “every talking head (who) chants the mantra of high-conservation value” (forest).
Dr Amos admits that, what some refer to as high-conservation value forest, is, to him, “like beauty; it is in the eye of the beholder, it is ephemeral “. (Mercury 15/11) And so it has been for tens of thousands of hectares of native forest in Tasmania in recent years.
Amongst the clearest of distinctions between human beings and animals is appreciation of beauty for it’s own sake, the love of nature, and a moral sense.
If Dr Amos is unable to grasp the value of sheer beauty then he must consider some of the utilitarian features that indicate that a mixed wet forest is of high conservation value.
The conversion of biodiverse native forest to burnt out clearfells, to greenhouse gas pollution, to (largely) export woodchips, and then to dry monoculture pulpwood plantations and eucalyptus regrowth, was the approach tolerated during his Chairmanship of FIAT.
This approach certainly cannot add value to the lives of our descendents who will live in a world where water is increasingly scarce and, therefore, increasingly precious. Because of global climate change our descendents will be at risk from drought and wildfire.
Despite the feeble arguments that have been mounted to the contrary, this style and scale of industrial forestry has been a massive contributor to Tasmania’s greenhouse gas emissions.
We can have a high value native forest industry without broadacre clearfelling and burning of native forests.
