The Tasmanian Greens today brought to the attention of the House of Assembly a global petition being run by AVAAZ, Stop the Amazon Chainsaw Massacre, aimed at pressuring the President of Brazil to veto a bill that gives loggers and farmers free rein to cut down huge swaths of the Amazon.
Greens Forestry Spokesperson put on the public record that the petition currently had close to 1.8 million signatures from people all over the world with recent signatures coming from people in countries including United States, Brazil, Netherlands, Canada, Spain, United Kingdom, Italy and Australia.
“This petition, and others like it, demonstrate that people worldwide recognise that regardless of what country they are geographically located in, forests are a global resource and their management and protection is of concern to the world,” said Mr Booth.
“This petition is a timely reminder that Tasmania’s forests have also been recognised time and again for their global significance both in terms of biodiversity, storage of carbon and age and that the Intergovernmental Agreement is an important opportunity to get the most precious protected whilst securing sustainable supply into the future to the industry.”
“It’s no different here in Tasmania, where Miranda Gibson has been sitting in the Observer Tree now for 150 days now to protect a forest that has been found by an independent team of scientific experts to contain world heritage value, providing clear evidence of the significance of these forests and the importance of protecting them.”
“The tree where Ms Gibson is perched is within the 430,000 hectares under interim protection under the IGA, and she is rightly concerned that this forest has been earmarked for logging to provide wood to the Malaysian company Ta Ann Tasmania.”
“Ms Gibson connects to the world through a daily blog which generates global curiousity and she speaks at public meetings via Skype.”
“Ta Ann has been found to be abusing Tasmania’s clean brand to sell wood logged unsustainably in Tasmanian forests to sell as ‘eco’ wood to a world market that knows practices by Ta Ann in their home country Sarawak occur unsustainably violating human and environmental rights.”
“The IGA is an opportunity to protect globally significant forests and ensure sustainable supply for our important forestry industry. The Tasmanian Greens commend all those signatory members who are still at the table and patiently trying to work together to ensure the best outcome for all Tasmanians.”
Kim Booth MP Greens Forestry Spokesperson Wednesday, 16 May 2012
