Old-growth forests are forests that have been allowed to grow for many many years without being disturbed by humans. Now people want to "unlock" new areas of Australia's old-growth for logging. This is dreadful. Old-growth forests are irreplaceable. They are a habitat for so many animals (depending on where the forests are) and some contain rare trees (again depending on where you are). Old-growth forests also are really good at soaking up carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen into the atmosphere. IN this way they are like a natural carbon sponge. 

So old-growth forests are good for animals, good for plants, and good for us and we are destroying them? 3.9 million hectares (39 thousand square kilometres) of old-growth forest was destroyed in 2018. This is about the size of Belgium! Cutting down all these trees is bad and the gases released into our atmosphere increases the greenhouse effect and contributes to climate change. 

It is really important for Australia to change this because Australia is one of the world deforestation hotspots. Australia's much-loved koalas are declining on Australia's east coast up to 21% every decade because of deforestation. This is a big problem that we need to solve now!