A special species contingency forestry coupe inside Tasmania’s WHA. Pic: Senator Richard Colbeck
Ed: So it’s come to this … after years of immense hot air and chest-out verbosity from Tasmanian Resources Minister Paul Harriss and Federal former Parliamentary Secretary (for Forests) Richard Colbeck [ who produced endless World Heritage Mockeries, eg, here (it’s worth doing a search on ‘Richard Colbeck’ in the TT search engine to see how many …) ] … the Feds appear to have buckled. Interestingly the announcement was made by the Assistant Minister for Agriculture, Anne Ruston, not Richard Colbeck …
The Federal Government would abandon a plan to log in Tasmania’s World Heritage Area if it was not ratified by the United Nations environment committee.
UNESCO has previously said it does not support the logging of specialty species timbers in the Wilderness World Heritage Area, which covers about 20 per cent of Tasmania, about 1.6 million hectares.
The Federal Government has supported the proposal for logging outlined in the Tasmanian Government’s draft management plan for the region.
The Government wants to open up just under 200,000 hectares for logging of some kind, about 12 per cent of the World Heritage Area (WHA).
A UN delegation recently visited the state to assess the practices and meet with stakeholders, with a final report expected next year.
The Assistant Minister for Agriculture, South Australian Senator Anne Ruston, said the logging plan would be scrapped if UNESCO did not support it.
“When they bring down that report I would be really surprised if the Federal Government did anything other than respect those decisions,” she said.
“We respect the decision of UNESCO.”
Read Richard Baines’ full ABC story here
• Dear Friends of Lapoinya,
It has been too long since our last update but the team has continued to work hard to stop Forestry Tasmania from clear felling the Lapoinya forest. Helped by your pressure the forest remains intact but Minister Harris recently refused to grant a reprieve or consider exchanging this cut for one of less social and environmental consequence.
See our latest movie regarding the threatened Giant Lobster, the largest freshwater lobster in the world whose sole habitat is NW Tasmania. See how felling this coupe will affect its survival.
Please email Premier Will Hodgman directly
and tell him your feelings after seeing this movie.
Tasmania is on the frontline of Australia’s environmental destruction with numerous species threatened by Forestry Tasmania’s rapacious practices. Lonely Planet recently suggested that tourists should visit the state before its environment is irretrievably ‘compromised’.
We continue to need your support wherever you are.
Thank you,
Mike Buky
