Victoria’s native timber was offered to a Japanese-owned paper mill at a discounted fixed price as part of a secret government deal to end a protracted multimillion-dollar dispute over unpaid debts. A Department of Treasury briefing obtained by Fairfax Media reveals Gippsland-based Australian Paper – the state’s largest wood customer – failed to hand over $10 million that VicForests …
Victoria’s low grade native timber could soon be packed into shipping containers bound for China and other cut-price countries for processing under a plan to help ailing state timber company VicForests. In response, a rule requiring local processing before export has now been relaxed in a bid to open up new markets for the struggling state-owned …
Three environmental activists have been fined for surveys they carried out in a logging coupe in East Gippsland, though the state government conceded it needed to bolster timber harvesting rules following the activists’ report. The activists from the Goongerah Environment Centre are facing fines of $440 each for entering the coupe in late April, which they say they will likely …
Three recent reports make clear that we should be saving habitat in order to save species. It is pretty simple. Destroy a species’ habitat and you destroy its home. The first report was issued last week by the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), Birdlife Austrlia and Environmental Justice Australia*. Its take away message is that in …
Governments across Australia are being urged to do more to protect endangered species, amid warnings land clearing and mining are threatening key habitats. The criticism from conservationists comes as the Federal Government prepares to release a new Threatened Species Strategy. Conservationists examined the Federal Government’s current strategy to protect 120 of the most endangered animals …
A planning blunder has led to the destruction of almost 900 towering old native trees after VicRoads severely underestimated the environmental impact of a highway project it is managing. Road safety is our utmost priority and roadside trees can be a hazard in run off road accidents. VicRoads chief executive John Merritt The Western Highway is being …
Landmark ruling raised ‘energy and appetite of the community to stand up and use the courts when government fouls them,’ says environmental lawyer Signaling the global implications of last week’s historic Dutch court ruling‚Äîthe first in the world to use human rights as a legal basis to protect citizens against greenhouse gas emissions and global …
There has been extensive debate about whether the sustainable use of forests (forest management aimed at producing a sustainable yield of timber or other products) results in superior climate outcomes to conservation (maintenance or enhancement of conservation values without commercial harvesting) Most of the relevant research has relied on consequential life-cycle assessment (LCA), with the …
A new scientific study shows that Australian forests are better for the climate left standing compared with being logged. The finding comes as the senate had cleared the way for forest burning in the renewable energy target. NEW SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH has called into question the wisdom of the Australian senate’s decision last week to allow …
The head of Victoria’s zoos says the scale of logging in the state’s central highland forests is environmentally unsustainable and has backed the creation of a new national park as giving key endangered species the best chance of survival. A letter sent by Zoos Victoria chief executive Jenny Gray to the state-owned timber company VicForests in January …
