Letter to the Editor: The answer is simple

DEAR News Of The Area,

IN reply to Steve Dobbyn’s question in his letter to NOTA on 20 March, “How did we get to this”, the answer is simple.

We cut down too many trees and have taken far too long to realise the outstanding natural and cultural heritage values of our forests we are losing.

An overview of a few of the signals over the last half century that we did not adequately respond to includes:

The World Heritage Convention, adopted in 1972 for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, as an international treaty which led to the establishment of World Heritage Sites, with the primary goals of nature conservation and the preservation and security of cultural properties.

In 1992 the High Court of Australia delivered the landmark Mabo decision on Indigenous land rights, that swept away the “legal fiction” of terra nullius (meaning “land belonging to no one”) that had been used to justify British colonisation.

Also in 1992, the Australian and State Governments (with the exception of Queensland) signed a National Forest Policy aimed at protection of wilderness, old-growth forests and threatened species as well as supporting a sustainable timber industry.

In 1984, the NSW Government successfully nominated rainforest areas it had recently protected for listing as World Heritage areas but other World Heritage protection, such as for koalas and outstanding examples of our eucalypt forests themselves is well overdue.

The recent Wild Cattle Creek Land and Environment Court judgement shows a welcome, though much belated response, to these national and world wide shifts.

Enough to get us out of this, Mr Dobbyns?

Well, unfortunately not, according to the 196 countries who signed onto the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework adopted in 2021.

It commits member countries to protect or conserve 30 percent of their land and seas by 2030, prioritising areas of high biodiversity value, adequately sampling the full range of existing ecosystems, and creating well connected networks of reserves.

Co-committing to reduce biodiversity loss, restore 30 percent of degraded ecosystems, halt species extinction and minimize the impacts of climate change on biodiversity.

Australia is one of 196 countries that committed to the 23 targets to halt and reverse nature loss this decade under the Framework.

All our States have signed up too!

This framework, I suggest if adhered to, is a brave step towards recovery from where we are.

The relatively small area of hardwood plantation within the proposed Great Koala National Park, resulting at least in part, from a number of land use mistakes, will struggle.

It will not be helped by declining markets and increasing competition from alternative products being produced at scale in other major plantation investment areas.

Throughout much of their extent the “plantations” are providing valuable habitat and connectivity for koalas, a threatened species of outstanding international value for science and culture.

This habitat is removed once the plantations are clearfelled, sprayed and replanted with blackbutt.

Regards,

Ashley LOVE,

Coffs Harbour