National Parks Association President Dr Grahame Douglas welcomed the Victorian Government’s decision to accelerate shutting down public native forestry by the end of 2023, drastically moving forward the original deadline of 2030.
‘It’s a relief to see a State Government acknowledging that we are running out of time to protect our last remaining forests and forest dependant fauna. Now’s the time for the NSW Government to follow suit and end the logging that is driving our forests and unique wildlife to extinction’ said Dr Douglas.
One of the reasons for moving forward Victoria’s deadline is that logging in public native forests is simply uneconomic, with plantations providing a far more reliable, fit for purpose wood products.
Dr Douglas said ‘industrial logging in NSW public native forests is just as uneconomic as in Victoria, with Forestry Corporation relying upon massive government subsidies to keep decimating our forests’.
‘It’s time to shift investment from propping up destructive practices in native forests and invest in our state’s plantations. Public native forests are just too important for koalas, biodiversity and carbon sequestration, its time to stop taking them for granted’.
NPA urges the NSW Government to follow their Victorian counterparts, beginning with an immediate moratorium on logging within the proposed Great Koala National Park. ‘Victoria has shown that the time for action is now, not in another decade. Equally, there is no point in the NSW Government committing to create a Great Koala National Park if the state owned Forestry Corporation is allowed to destroy it while before it can be created’.
ENDS
Media Contacts: Dr Grahame Douglas, President NPA NSW and Coffs Coast Branch 029299 0000
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