Australia is preparing to sign an agreement that would give international corporations the power to go over the government’s head on environmental issues. Here’s what you need to know about the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. STRETCHING WIDE, blue and deep, the St Lawrence River in Canada drains America’s Great Lakes to the sea. Along its shores, …
An East Gippsland sawmill is in the process of applying for the very same timber certification label that has been condemned by environment groups across the country this week, after the logging of WA’s 600 year old Karri forests was given a ‘green tick’. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is a global timber certifying body …
A contentious plan to cut down river red gums in the Barmah National Park, on the border of Victoria and NSW, has been scrapped by the Victorian government. The Department of Environment and Primary Industries, Parks Victoria and the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage had planned to trial an “ecological thinning” of the forest, …
The standards of the world’s leading timber certifying body, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), are being questioned after one of its British auditors gave an environmental tick of approval to log forests containing 600-year-old trees in Western Australia. The WA Government’s logging agency, the Forest Products Commission (FPC), has secured FSC certification from Soil Association …
The Australian Conservation Foundation has called for the international Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) to withdraw environmental certification awarded to Western Australia’s state logging agency and launch an investigation into how it was issued. The environmental tick of approval was granted by UK auditing firm Soil Association despite evidence from environmental stakeholders that WA’s Forest Products …
VicForests has agreed not to log 81 of its planned logging areas as part of our court case for the owls – at least until mid December. These stands of forest have been identified as areas known to contain, or are adjacent to areas that contain threatened species of owls. After last summer’s fires …
WHEN forestry workers lose their jobs it’s a crisis but when public servants lose theirs it’s an election promise. Richard Denniss asks why politicians are working harder to save some jobs than others. AS the world coal price continues to fall, politicians are asking themselves what the Australian economy will look like by the time …
Earlier this year the Leadbeater’s Possum Advisory Group (LPAG) delivered its reports to the state government. The group had been established by the government to make recommendations to support “the recovery of the Leadbeater’s Possum while maintaining a sustainable timber industry”. The group included no specialist expertise, being composed entirely of government employees and representatives …
In the lead up to Christmas this well-written piece explains how we add enormous pressure on our planet depending on the way we celebrate. It is estimates that we will this year spend almost $47 BILLION this year on celebrating Christmas, over-eating and buying presents.George Monbiot looks at this big picture – and it’s quite …
The tenth edition of WWF’s Living Planet Report, launched at the United Nations in Geneva, is a stark call to action for a world living beyond its means. The report reveals that humanity’s demand on the planet is more than 50 per cent greater than what nature can sustain, with dramatic declines in biodiversity since …
