Since 2022, koalas across much of Australia’s east coast have been officially considered ‘endangered’, as the animals have suffered the consequences of bushfires, drought and disease. And it doesn’t look like their troubles will end soon…
41 thousand hectares affected by logging
Environmentalists, incl Northeast Forest Allianceclaims that areas, including 41,000 hectares vital to koalas, have been marked for potential logging in New South Wales.
The new 12-month logging plan comes amid growing pressure on the state government to stop logging in local forests. The associations would like him to follow the example of neighboring Victoria. The latter announced that logging in the indigenous forests would end in December, six years earlier than planned.
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The Governments of New South Wales and UK Parliament They should stop logging in the areas they have identified as the most important habitat for koalas.”said Dylan Pugh, president of the Northeast Forest Coalition.
According to him, among these 41,000 hectares are the areas of the future Wonderful Koala National Parkand vast expanses of woodland such as Doubledock Forest. About 9,000 hectares are in areas with already active logging.
“These areas continue to be exploited despite their identification as the most important koala habitat we know of.”did he say.
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Appeasement attempts by the government and the logging company
In the face of growing protests, a NSW Forestry spokesperson said (Forestry Corporation of New South Wales) said the operations had gone through detailed planning processes, including environmental studies and mapping “to identify and protect environmental features”.
NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharp also tried to reassure: “The Government wants a Grand National Koala Park established as soon as possible. While establishing the operation, the Forestry Corporation of New South Wales was approached by the Environmental Protection Agency to encourage them to adopt a precautionary approach when carrying out forestry operations in areas important to koalas.”
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For her part, Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersk said regional forest agreements must comply with new national environmental standards that are being developed, as part of broader reforms of laws in this area.
“We are committed to reforming environmental laws in Australia. These laws are no longer valid,” She said. the Endangered animals Like koalas, sugar gliders and large gliders are all affected by logging in the local forests.”
before concluding: “We also know that there are economic benefits to protecting local forests. It can increase storage Carbone producing water, enabling co-management with First Nations, and creating jobs through wildlife control and forest restoration.”.
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