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Sustainability Day - 5 November 2006
Information Sheets
Sheet 1
Do you want to see all our South East Forests turned into regrowth
plantations and then sold off to Japan? Is this the NSW Government’s secret agenda for our South East Forests? It would seem so.
Japan protects its own forests from over-exploitation. Around 75% of the Japanese land mass is forest.
Why are Australian Governments so hell-bent on destroying our forests?
Regrowth is NOT ‘forever’ the way it is practised in NSW. The end result is progressive soil degradation and eventual desertification. Is this what we want for our children and their children? Will they thank us when they have to live with the damage?
Lets learn from Japan: give our forests a chance to recover while they still have a chance. The paper industry won’t collapse, and NSW taxpayers will be better off.
2007 is election year for both State and Commonwealth Governments. Let Ministers and candidates know that forest policy has to change. Stop them woodchipping our forests and our futures. Put them on the spot about their own policies.
See
'how can I help' page
for how to contact them
Sheet 2
What sort of forest do you want to see?
Do you think this sort of forest is sustainable?
This dieback is increasingly common in our forests. Around 75% of State forests are affected. Drought and forestry practices are major contributors.
With global warming and the prospect of a further el nino related drought, our forests will become even unhealthier, and we will lose more and more plant and animal species, unless there is a major change in current forestry practices.
Intensive logging for the export woodchip industry is destroying our complex regional native forests, and turning them into regrowth plantations. It is also seriously damaging soils and our precious waterways. And contributing significantly to climate change.
This is not ecologically sustainable developmentIt is ecological vandalism
2007 is election year for both State and Commonwealth Governments. Let the Ministers and candidates know that forest policy has to change. Stop them woodchipping our native forests and our futures. Put them on the spot about their own policies.
See 'how can I help' page for how to contact them
Sheet 3
Did you think that the Eden chipmill took waste wood only? Or that good quality logs did not go to the chipper? If you did, you were WRONG
Our native forests are virtually clear-felled, and over 90% of all logs taken out of the forest go to the Eden chipmill. THE CHIPMILL ONLY TAKES WHOLE LOGS. IT DOES NOT TAKE WASTE WOOD.
Some of the residue is sold for firewood. The remainder, including the understorey, is burnt – exposing and drying out the top layers of already poor quality forest soils, adding significantly to carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere
Because the forestry operations remove understorey as well as trees, there is a lot of soil disturbance and loss. Large quantities of soil end up as silt in the waterways and estuaries, especially after major downpours, with adverse impacts on fish and water plant life. And regrowth takes up twice as much water as old growth. This is not ecologically sustainable development- it is ecological vandalism
2007 is election year for both State and Commonwealth Governments. Let the Ministers and candidates know that forest policy has to change. Stop them woodchipping our forests and our futures.
See 'how can I help' page for how to contact them
Sheet 4
Can our South East native forests and waterways be saved?
The problem is intensive integrated harvesting, of both old forest and regrowth, combined with removal and burning of the understorey and waste wood, and the impacts of these practices on forest structure and waterways. And, of course, on the climate.
Some of the damage is irreparable. Some can be reversed if repeat harvesting of forest is stopped, and opportunity is given for the full regeneration of species removed during logging. Without this many plant and animal species are doomed to extinction, and our waterways will be even less able to meet our needs.
STOP THE INTENSIVE LOGGING NOW LET OUR FORESTS RECOVER Help combat global warming
2007 is election year for both State and Commonwealth Governments. Let Ministers and candidates know that forest policy has to change. Stop them woodchipping our forests and our futures. Put them on the spot about their own policies.
See 'how can I help' page for how to contact them
Sheet 5
Is woodchipping
our South East native forests sustainable in economic terms?
Plantation timbers are preferred by paper makers, and are in plentiful supply (some say it’s a glut) in Australia and globally.
Vast investments have been made in plantations, and even more plantation timber is coming on stream. Many countries with better soils and more reliable rainfall than Australia can produce Australian species more cheaply than Australia and bring them to market on shorter rotations. NSW can compete only by charging less for its logs.
The prospect is for even lower prices than the average $14 a tonne the NSW Government now receives. And high transport costs have pushed some royalty rates as low as $7 a tonne.
Employment in the regional industry declines with each new technical advance in harvesting equipment, and Commonwealth equipment subsidies speed this loss of jobs. There are now around 150 jobs in the region, where in earlier years there were many hundreds. These workers need restructuring packages to quit an uneconomic industry.
TELL THE GOVERNMENTS: END INTENSIVE LOGGING AND STOP SUBSIDISING THE CHIPMILL
2007 is election year for both State and Commonwealth Governments. Let Ministers and candidates know that forest policy has to change. Stop them woodchipping our forests and our futures. Put them on the spot about their own policies.
See 'how can I help' page for how to contact them
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