Australia needs to stop logging old-growth forests and plan for the recovery of our unique biodiversity into the future. The Federal Government is in the midst of a once-in-a-decade review of the EPBC, the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act of 1999. During this crucial time, it is more important than ever to consider our national policy around the protection of our natural heritage.

How is it that Australia is still a net deforester, and why each year do we log more of our unique old growth forests, often for nothing more than paper? It is known that recently logged areas are particularly dangerous places in the creation of bushfires, yet still our ancient forests are continuously pillaged for short-term economic gain.

Enough is enough - we need to end deforestation in Australia, especially when there is a perfectly good alternative for these forestry industries in timber plantations. Not only must our grand forests be protected, but Australians will need to replant native trees to kickstart bushy areas and foster biodiversity where once there forest. Farmers can help by planting native tree-lanes on their properties, which can also offer soil benefits and shade for livestock.

We can safely and strategically reforest our country, taking into consideration regional conditions and local ecosystems to manage fire risk and offset enormous amounts of carbon dioxide. The EPBC is Australia's mechanism for protecting our biodiversity. We need an EPBC that ends the logging of old-growth forests and plans the recovery of our unique biodiversity into the future.

How did we get here?

In roughly 250 years of European settlement in Australia, we have lost nearly 40% of our forests, while much of the remaining native vegetation is fragmented. Of the remaining forests, around 50% has at some point also been logged, cleared or severely modified, so precious little remains of Australia's forest as they were before the arrival of white man. Early settlers were encouraged to clear land for agriculture - in fact there were fines for holding a property back from 'development.' As a result, most of the large forests Australia has left are in harder-to-reach locations, such as the Blue Mountains national parks around Sydney, and almost all the modified agricultural land in Victoria and NSW were cleared from native forest. Now, Australia has an extremely low amount of closed forest as a percentage of total land area (5%), much lower than the world average (21%).

Deforestation is like peeling back the skin of the land, and can have many negative consequences like erosion, increasing salinity and soil degradation. This is why previous Australian governments have done lots to reduce deforestation and improve soil health. In 2020, we need our government to plan how to end deforestation, only allowing plantation timber while safely revegetating Australia, protecting our biodiversity for the future.

If you believe in this cause, please sign and share this.

Australia's wildlife is such a big part of our identity. We need to address the legacy of modern Australia and plant for the future, so that Kookaburras and Koalas can visit our gardens for generations to come.

Resources:

10 Facts about Deforestation in Australia:
https://www.wilderness.org.au/news-events/10-facts-about-deforestation-in-australia

Fact sheet: Tree clearing in Australia
https://www.wwf.org.au/what-we-do/species/tree-clearing