Garnaut’s forgotten forests!

The carbon value of our forests must be resolved for emissions trading.

The role of forests in storing carbon and their importance in tackling climate change received overdue recognition in the draft report released by Professor Garnaut. 

Download Report (PDF, 548pp, 13MB)

But native forests can store much more carbon than plantations and this has yet to be properly recognised.

Protecting Australia’s forests from logging not only offers an immediate reduction in greenhouse gas emissions – forests also sequester carbon that has accumulated in our atmosphere, and store it safely.

It’s critical Australia recognises the role of our native forests as an inexpensive option to tackle climate change and protect the future of all life on Earth.

Climate change is stressing the already delicate balance of life and threatening our economic well-being and water security.

The deep cuts necessary to address climate change can only be achieved if the role of forests is properly measured and the true value of native forests is recognised.

There are huge carbon stocks in our native forests. When it comes to forest carbon there is a simple rule: the bigger the tree, the more carbon there is stored in it. Yet governments are continuing to take the easy option of subsidising more plantations, even though the carbon captured in them will be released into the atmosphere in a few years.

Plantations are a poor carbon stock compared to native forests that can be up to hundreds of years old. Global research has found that carbon sequestered and stored in undisturbed, natural forests is larger, more resilient and longer term than the modest amount of carbon sequestered in monocultures destined to be cut down every 15 years.

The logging industry is attempting to mislead government by lobbying for carbon credits for plantations when, on the other hand, the logging industry’s destruction of our native forests lead to the release of millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide each year.

Together we can stop this madness.

Take action: Send a message to the Prime Minister now, urging him to protect Australia’s and the world’s native forests as part of the climate solution.

Read more about climate change

Media Release