The impending closure of Heyfield sawmill has pitted senior federal ministers against each other, a premier, farmers and conservationists. By Karen Middleton. In the federal government, Josh Frydenberg is, among other things, the minister for protecting wildlife and saving trees. In the agriculture portfolio, his Nationals colleague Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce is effectively the …
How ironic that the timber industry chose March 21st, International Forest Day, to barricade Parliament with logging trucks and demand accelerated logging of the dwindling mature forests of the Central Highlands! When the rest of the world was reflecting on the benefits of forest wilderness for people, for economies and for the planet itself, we …
The Coalition Government can’t resist the logging industry, subsidising the destruction of forests as “carbon neutral” at the expense of pesky wind, solar or other annoying competitors, writes Frances Pike. SUBSTITUTING wood biomass, burning it with coal and calling it “renewable energy”, just because trees regrow, doesn’t make it carbon neutral. Instantly, the combustion emits …
An independent scientific assessment into the conservation value of Victoria’s most-loved tall forests reveals almost half are unprotected and open to logging. The report debunks industry myths that more than 90% of these forests are somehow protected, they are not. The report reveals that, based on tenure alone, the forest industry has access to at …
Originally Published at http://www.ecoshout.org.au/are-you-sick-logging-industry-spin
LIKE politician Danny O’Brien, I’m angry about the Australian Sustainable Hardwoods sawmill debacle. Very angry. This disaster should have been avoided. Successive governments, of all persuasions, have badly mismanaged timber resources. A sawmill company is now gaming the system, demanding access to timber it knows is not there. Sawmill workers will be losers. But so …
“This is a case study that provides evidence to support complementarity in the use of space,” explained researcher Laura Williams. Feb. 28 (UPI) — Previous studies showed more diverse tree stands to be healthier and more productive than monoculture forests, but scientists didn’t know why. New research suggests tree diversity lends a forest adaptability, allowing …
Findings: Subsidized wood power plants actually emit more carbon than burning coal An important new report issued overnight in London has demolished the assumption that forest biomass should be considered a carbon-neutral source of energy. This has major implications for climate policy in Australia, where native forest biomass energy was controversially included into the Renewable …
Using wood pellets to generate low-carbon electricity is a flawed policy that is speeding up not slowing down climate warming. That’s according to a new study which says wood is not carbon neutral and emissions from pellets are higher than coal. Subsidies for biomass should be immediately reviewed, the author says. But the industry rejected …
New Zealand’s forests and other land areas may be absorbing up to 60% more carbon dioxide than has been calculated, with much of this uptake likely occurring in native forests, NIWA scientists have discovered. New research led by NIWA atmospheric scientists Drs Kay Steinkamp and Sara Mikaloff-Fletcher, indicates that New Zealand’s forests absorb much more …
