Take real action on climate change

Logging in the central highlands of Victoria. Photo: Ern Mainka.

Australia’s magnificent forests are a place of beauty and inspiration, home to a myriad of plant and animal life. But these forests also act as water filters, air purifiers and carbon stores.

Logging dramatically decreases precious water supplies and increases greenhouse pollution. That's why forest protection must be an essential part of any climate change action plan. Also, groundbreaking new data suggests that the forests of eastern Victoria are amongst the most carbon dense on the planet.

Premier Brumby must protect Victoria’s old growth forests and water catchments for future generations. They are a lifeline to our future.

"There is more carbon in the atmosphere than for 55 million years, enough to melt all the ice on the planet and submerge cities like London, New York and New Orleans." Sir David King, Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government (July 2004). 

To prevent dangerous climate change we need to reduce greenhouse pollution by 80% by 2050 and 30% by 2020. This mammoth task can only be achieved if we apply immediate practical solutions to reduce greenhouse gas pollution.

The recent intense debate on climate change in Australia has focused on greenhouse gas pollution coming from fossil fuel energy sources- oil and coal. Largely forgotten in the debate is the major role played by trees and other vegetation in absorbing greenhouse gas pollution and storing it out of the atmosphere. Also forgotten is the fact that logging releases CO2 in the atmosphere.

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 woodchipping Victoria’s old growth forests. It is cost effective and provides almost immediate reductions in greenhouse emissions.

Forests are giant carbon pumps, drawing carbon from the air and pumping it into the soil, trunks and branches over hundreds of years.

Woodchipping, soil disturbance and post logging burns release over half the carbon that has been stored - often for many centuries - back into the atmosphere.

"Curbing deforestation (tree clearing) is a highly cost-effective way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and has the potential to offer significant reductions fairly quickly." Stern Report into Climate Change, October 2006.

Planting new trees after logging is far less effective than protecting existing forests, which are giant carbon banks. It takes approximately 400 years for a Mountain Ash forest to recapture all the carbon lost after logging. Tragically, as 80% of forest logged ends up as woodchips, all of the carbon is lost within three years. Even the 20% of the wood used to produce furniture and other products gradually emits its stored carbon into the atmosphere. This causes more global warming.

In 2004/05, Victoria destroyed 8995 hectares of native forests, or the equivalent of 13 MCG sized football fields every day, releasing as much carbon into the atmosphere as putting an extra 2.3 million cars on the road in a year. Compare this with the Brumby government’s current greenhouse target for 2016, which equates to the removal of just 600,000 cars per year.

Australian National University research shows that the logging each hectare of the giant Eucalyptus regnans forests in the Styx Valley and elsewhere in Tasmania and Victoria releases over one thousand tonnes of greenhouse pollution.

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

What climate change will do to our water supplies

Water shortages and greenhouse pollution is made worse by every old growth forest which is logged woodchips.

Global warming is already very real. It is evident in the severity of Australia’s drought and the mega bushfires of 2003 and 2006. Climate change is expected to make Victoria warmer and drier. CSIRO forecasts that by 2020, Melbourne will have 8% less water, so it is vital that we save every drop. To top it off, much of our most precious resource is lost through logging.

Despite this, the Brumby government allows the logging of five of Melbourne’s water catchments which supply over half the city’s water including our largest catchment, the Thomson dam. As a result we are losing 1,000 litres of drinking water every second, because young re-growth forests drink the water that would otherwise flow into rivers and dams.

To protect us from the impacts of dangerous climate change, this destruction of water catchments must end.

What climate change will do to rare and threatened native wildlife

In early 2004, a comprehensive scientific report found that 18% of all species would become extinct if minimal climate change occurred by 2050. This increases to 37% if high estimates of climate change are reached.

Animals and plants such as the Mountain Pigmy Possum of the Snowy Mountains that lives in the mountaintops are particularly vulnerable. The cool moist habitat it needs to survive is likely to dwindle as global warming takes hold.

Social and economic crisis

The ‘land of drought and flooding rains’ is destined for droughts and floods on a much greater scale unless we act now. Australia will be affected more than most countries because of the fragile nature of our environment. Bureau of Meteorology records show that rainfall has decreased along the east coast of Australia over the last 50 years. From drought or bushfires to lost revenue from tourism and fishing industries. The costs are immeasurable.

British Social cost from the Stern Review $1,045million. Eco analysis of what climate change costs the earth if nothing is done. The cost savings for this are potentially massive. Using the Stern Report estimate of costs of a tonne of greenhouse pollution ($110), stopping large scale land clearing alone would save over $6 billion. Stopping native forest logging in just two states (Victoria and NSW) would save $1.5 billion.

Time to act...

The fight to stop global warming is not over and we still have time. And there are things that can be done right now to slow down, and ultimately stop, what we have done to our climate.

As you are aware, Australia’s woodlands and forest are a fantastic asset in the fight to stop global warming. Not only do they contain significant stores of carbon – they are nature’s regulator in that they actively absorb carbon dioxide (the most insidious and common greenhouse gas pollutant). When our forests and bush are logged and cleared, we not only loose a wonderful absorption capability but we also contribute to our greenhouse pollution emissions.

Groundbreaking new data is emerging about the effects of logging on carbon storage on the forests of eastern Australia. Using analyses from this research, we showed that logging in Victoria last year lead to the destruction of 10000 ha of forests and woodlands and lead to 10 million tonnes of greenhouse gas pollution being released into the atmosphere.

The causes for global warming are clear – we need to stop the emission of greenhouse gas pollution from the burning of fossil fuels and end the logging and clearing of our forests and bushlands. There is no point spending millions of dollars on greener energy policies while we still log and clear our native forests and bushland.

Take Action

Act Now! Forest protection must be a major part of the suite of solutions we use to reduce climate change. You can help protect Victoria’s old growth forests and water catchments from the woodchipping industry.

1. Write a letter to Victorian Premier John Brumby, calling for the protection of old growth forests and water catchments and an end to woodchipping. Click here for details.

2. The Wilderness Society is a commercial tour operator. Join us and see these spectacular forests for yourself. Call 03 9038 0888 for more details. Click here for details.

3. Become and Wilderness Defender. Call our membership hotline on 1800 030 641.

4. Become a volunteer and add your voice and skills to this important campaign – call 9038 0888 or email melbourne@wilderness.org.au for more details