The tallest trees play a vital role in combating global warming by taking carbon from the atmosphere, but they are at greatest risk from ever-increasing droughts. LONDON, 14 December, 2015 – When the rains fail, it doesn’t pay to be the tallest tree in the forest. Scientists have confirmed once again that when it comes to …
If world leaders can’t agree to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, technologies that remove carbon from the atmosphere could be our only hope for avoiding extreme climate change. Gregg Borschmann reports. With global greenhouse gas emissions projected to continue rising for at least the next decade, scientists and policy makers are quietly but increasingly focused …
The very issues that Markets For Change, the Bob Brown Foundation and the Tasmanian Conservation Trust documented and took FSC auditors to see in the field are those that have been identified as the key impediments to Forestry Tasmania achieving FSC certification, revealed today in a Government Business Enterprises Estimates Committee hearing in Hobart. Forestry …
The Black Saturday bushfire that destroyed Marysville could have been prevented if a power company had followed basic safety standards, according to an explosive coronial finding. For the first time, power company AusNet Services has been held directly responsible in court for causing the 2009 bushfire, which killed 40 people, levelled hundreds of homes, and …
A few months ago I shared a photo on my Facebook page with a caption that read “We cut down 3 billion trees every year–that’s an area the size of New York City every two days. This future, I do not accept it.” Immediately, a friend replied “But don’t forget! The U.S. plants 4 million …
IT’S time to move beyond extravagant claims in the fire debate and have a good look at all of the evidence and options before us. It might sound good to call for fuel reduction burns over 20 per cent of public land each year, as proposed by the East Gippsland Wildfire Taskforce. But has the taskforce …
The VNPA’s Matt Ruchel reports on the State Government’s plan to reach community consensus on forest management. A week before the Andrews Government celebrated its first year in office, the Premier released the Terms of Reference for the long-awaited Forest Industry Taskforce.These Terms are the starter’s gun for discussions to begin on the future of …
In the 50 years since Leadbeaters possum was rediscovered, logging has destroyed more than 50% of the forests that were the possums habitat. Leadbeaters possum now lives in an area in the Central Highlands that has about 25 million trees. In their latest cynical publicity stunt, Vicforests have created artificial hollows in 78 of these …
In February 2009 the Black Saturday bushfires swept through the Mountain Ash forests of Victoria, burning 72,000 hectares. These forests are home to the tallest flowering plants on the planet, and iconic species such as the Leadbeater’s Possum, Victoria’s animal emblem. In the six years since the fires, we and other scientists have been investigating …
