Following our forest blockade in September, members of community group Forest Conservation Victoria have established another blockade at a logging coupe near Mt Baw Baw. A conservationist is suspended in a tree sit 20m off the ground, halting the machines from logging. This area is another example of high conservation value forest being decimated by government owned logging agency VicForests, in the face of mounting concerns around climate change and the dwindling habit of a number of endangered species. The group are continuing to campaign for protection.
The protest is aiming to bring attention to the appalling logging and the repeated failure of the Labor government to protect Victoria’s much loved forests. Following the group’s protest in September, the coupe, which contained many large hollow-bearing trees, gained no proper protection and has since been destroyed. 4 trees measuring 8 meters in circumference were left standing, but without the forest around them, these giants will be exposed to extreme conditions and it is unlikely they will survive.
“Victorians would be disgusted by the practices of VicForests. Labor allows our precious forests to be logged behind locked gates and out of the public eye. It’s shameful.”
“The world is at crisis point. Climate change is a serious threat to the survival of our planet. Victoria has some of the most carbon-dense forests in the world. How can the Labor government take meaningful action to stop climate change, without protecting Victoria’s forests?”
A new report from the IPCC last month detailing the importance of keeping global temperatures below 1.5 degrees of warming since pre-industrial levels, Australia has a moral obligation to take significant steps to reduce its emissions. Deforestation and forest degradation at Mt Baw Baw is contributing rapid global temperature increase.
When a native forest is logged, the majority of logged biomass is left onsite, where it releases carbon through burning or decay. Most of the logged trees are used in short-term products like paper, or packaging pallets, before releasing carbon through disposal. Most of the logged carbon is emitted into the atmosphere within a short amount of time.
“The Labor party has been woeful during their time in government on protecting our native forests and have let Victorians down. Labor is selling off our public forests, 80% of which is made into disposable paper products, at the expense of our climate, water, and threatened wildlife.”
“We want to expose what’s going on in these precious places and to make it very clear that it is unacceptable. The government needs to immediately protect these places in line with the views of an overwhelming majority of Victorians. We will continue to take action for our forests until we see them protected.”
