In April 2008, 150
individuals and groups donated $9,500 in less than 2 weeks to
pay for a half page advertisement in The Canberra Times on 19
April, the first day of the Prime Minister's 2020 Summit. This
remarkable effort was coordinated by the South East Region
Conservation Alliance "Green Carbon Counts" campaign.
AUSTRALIA’S
NATURAL NATIVE FORESTS OFFER A POSITIVE, QUICK AND CHEAP WAY TO CUT
OUR GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS
Australia’s
native forests offer a positive and low cost way to quickly and
dramatically cut our national greenhouse emissions.
In the words of Sir
Nicholas Stern: “…. action to prevent further deforestation would
be relatively cheap compared with other types of
mitigation, if the right policies and institutional structures are
put in place.”
Major emissions result from wood product degradation, burning of
logging waste and soil disturbance.
The issues paper “Australia 2020 Summit, Population, Sustainability,
Climate change, Water and the future of our Cities” does not
mention Australian forests, but recognises that forests globally
offer low cost opportunities for greenhouse emissions reduction.
Woodchipping can move to plantations
·
Over 80% of trees logged in
Australian forests are woodchipped. As paper products, these have a
life of two to three years.
·
Existing plantations can
supply virtually all export and domestic markets currently supplied
by native forests.
·
By ending native forest
woodchipping, Australia can dramatically reduce its CO2 emissions:
we can also protect water and wildlife.
·
In both NSW and Victoria, the
native forest woodchipping industry makes a financial loss to the
state, so is subsidised.
Forestry
sequestration and emissions should both be counted
·
Australia looks set to adopt
carbon accounting and greenhouse emissions reporting systems that
will not allow us to recognise - much less reap - the benefits that
forests offer, because they fail to take account of emissions or
sequestration in the forestry sector. This will actually encourage forest destruction.
·
Australia
will double count much of the CO2 uptake from forestry, but export
the emissions. State forestry agencies don’t have to report
emissions from logging, but can claim credits for sequestration.
Australia
should follow IPCC practice
·
The government is not
following the default rule of the International Panel on Climate
Change that logging emissions should be calculated at source.
·
That means CO2 emissions of
Australian native forest woodchipping might not be counted at all.
Our international credibility will grow if we protect
our forests
·
Australia is
– rightly- providing financial help to Indonesia and PNG to protect
their forests, but continues to subsidise the destruction of its
own.
·
For
international credibility, we must be consistent.