There are many reasons to halt old-growth logging in Australia, including biodiversity conservation, the maintenance of water catchment values and carbon storage. A civilised nation that is concerned about its environment should not be cutting its limited remaining areas of old-growth forest.
Old-growth logging has been halted in some parts of the native forest estate, such as in the wet ash forests of central Victoria. This should now be extended to the east Gippsland forests and the wet forests of Tasmania. There will be some social dislocation in embracing such a phase-out policy and structural adjustment packages must be implemented to ensure that this key reform is done in a socially just way.
These important issues about the urgent need to stop old-growth logging are discussed in a new book, The Ten Commitments: Reshaping the Lucky Country's Environment, that I co-edited with three colleagues. The book outlines the carefully considered opinions of more than 40 leading Australian scientists about ways to improve the nation's environment.
It spans three main themes: different environments (from deserts and rangelands to forests and tropical savannas), various sectors (eg, fisheries, mining, forestry and water) and such cross-cutting themes as human population size, energy, biodiversity and governance, and institutional arrangements. Each chapter outlines the 10 key things that a given author or set of authors believe are urgent to address.
In his recent critique (Letters, October 17), logging lobbyist Allan Hansard, of the National Association of Forest Industries, accuses me of a lack of scientific rigour in The Ten Commitments. Hansard appears not to understand that the book covers such a wide range of topics and that it encompasses much more than forestry and ecologically sustainable forest management. In fact, the press release by the association slamming the book was circulated to the media before the book was launched.
My chapter in the new book is about forests and ecologically sustainable forest management. The chapter and my opinions about old-growth forest are underpinned by my 25 years of research experience in Australia's native forests, exotic plantations, native woodlands and farm forests. My insights are based on more than 300 articles published in international and national peer-reviewed scientific journals and 20 previously published scholarly books. Scientific rigour is paramount in all my work and the chapter in The Ten Commitments is no different.
Hansard accuses me of calling for an end to native forest logging in Australia. Nowhere in my chapter do I state this. Nor have I ever called for this in earlier scientific articles or books.
If Hansard had sufficient rigour to actually read my chapter, he would have quickly seen that my call was for an end to old-growth logging. This is very different to a complete cessation of native forest logging. All those with an understanding of forests and forestry issues know this.
In my chapter I include several key actions concerning ecologically sustainable ways to harvest regrowth forest. This emphasises the absurdity of Hansard's incorrect accusation that I called for an end to all native forest logging.
In the mountain ash forests of Victoria, my research team and I have been examining alternative methods to clearfelling regrowth forest for more than two decades. We have in place a cutting experiment in those forests that has been under way since 2003. This project has the strong support of the Victorian Government as well as local logging contractors. It seems that Hansard and the forest industries association remain sadly unaware of these important initiatives to better manage native forests that are supported by their own industry.
I strongly agree with Hansard that a robust forest industry is vital to Australia's environment and its economy.
In my chapter, I argue that a robust forest industry should not log old-growth forest, should not clear native forest and woodland to establish exotic plantations, and should not severely over-commit forest resources as has happened in parts of Victoria and will happen again in Tasmania with the over-commitment of resources needed to run a world-scale pulp mill.
There are important alternative pathways to a robust industry.
For example, there are more than 19million hectares of cleared or semi-cleared land in southern Australia where forests and woodlands could either be restored or plantations established.
This could provide an important opportunity to: (1) sequester enormous amounts of carbon; (2) maintain the social cohesion of rural communities by keeping people on the land and diversifying their agri-businesses; and, (3) recover rapidly declining biodiversity. I highlight this in my chapter in The Ten Commitments.
Hansard and other lobbyists in the association should read this chapter so the nation can find ways to move its forest industries (native forests, plantations and farm forests) toward true and much-needed ecological sustainability.
Dr Lindenmayer is a professor of ecology at the Australian National University. He has been researching approaches to ecologically sustainable forest management since 1983.
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