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Home » 2007 » #709 » Australian News » Blockades stop logging

Selena Black, Melbourne

FoE’s Lauren Caulfield said: “Startling new science proves that forest protection is an essential part of any climate change action plan. Premier [Steve] Bracks must protect Victoria’s forests and assist the logging industry’s rapid transition into Victoria’s existing plantation estate.

“In 2004/05, Victoria destroyed 8995 hectares of native forests, releasing as much carbon into the atmosphere as putting an extra 2.4 million cars on the road in a year. To protect us from the impacts of dangerous climate change, this destruction must stop.”

According to Luke Chamberlain, a forest campaigner with The Wilderness Society, “18% of global greenhouse pollution is caused by logging and tree clearing, even greater than the emissions of the global transport sector. The first, and easiest thing we should do to reduce greenhouse emissions is to stop logging and clearing.”

“The logging industry has been misleading the public by saying that logging is good for climate change because young re-growth forests suck up more carbon than old-growth forests”, Chamberlain said. “However, the logging industry conveniently ignores the massive carbon loss that occurs when the original forest is logged.”

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