"The logging industry is finding ways to get around the so-called ban."

"A loophole in the law banning Victoria's native timber harvesting means logging projects can still go ahead as the state government passes project approval responsibility to local councils."

"How could it be that a local council would have the expertise, the biological and ecological expertise, to approve logging in an area? When you log and regenerate an area of native forest … that same area of forest becomes much more flammable for a prolonged period of time," Professor Lindenmayer said. "I don't think that we should be adding that extra fire burden for rural and regional people to have to deal with."
>>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-03/timber-harvesting-ban-loophole-victoria/105123078
#LoggingIndustry #LoggingImpacts #bushfire #risks #conservation #biodiversity #wildlife #forests #NSWLogging #BellingenLogging #council

Dreams of environmental redemption: Reanimate the thylacine

"Perhaps we want an iconic marsupial we can walk on a lead to our local brunch spot."

"Certainly we are not up to the job: we have no experience in making thylacines happy. We have restructured the habitat where the tiger lived, decimated its prey, destroyed its culture. We have built a lot of roads: if everything goes very well and thylacines become as common as pademelons, we can look forward to seeing one on our morning commute, smeared across the highway by a logging truck."

"More likely we are hoping for something to erase our guilt, not just for the extinction of this animal (we could blame someone else for that) but for all the extinctions to come. More likely we want to feel that the damage we do isn’t permanent, that we can travel back in time." Jane Rawson
>>
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/31/can-we-recreate-a-lost-world-in-tasmania-anything-could-happen
#Biodiversity #restoration #thylacines #extinction #marsupials #roads #LoggingIndustry #destruction #wildlife #science #creation #ecology #restoration #MAGA #Australia #writing

Human-mediated extirpation of wildlife through logging

"Before industrial logging in south-west British Columbia, there were nearly 1,000 spotted owls in the old-growth forests. But they have vanished in recent decades, victims of habitat destruction. Activists have tried in vain to hold the government to account, alleging protected species laws have failed to prevent the extirpation of the owls."

"Efforts to revive the population have failed, with a pair of owls released from the breeding program dying within months. The lone female in the wild is also believed to have died."
>>
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/12/canada-owl-rats-valentines-day

What happened to the Northern Spotted Owl? >>
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_spotted_owl
#LoggingImpacts #harm #birds #biodiversity #NativeForests #LoggingIndustry #Wildlife #habitat #destruction #degradation #extirpation #NSWLogging #SaveTuckersNob #koalas #BellingenLogging #SettlerSociety #governance #ecocide

Taxpayers are ‘literally paying’ to cut down forests sustaining koalas and greater gliders and providing clean drinking water

"The state forestry corporation has had losses totalling $72m in its native hardwood forest division since 2020-21.Two reports revealing the extent of financial losses from native forest logging in New South Wales raise questions about the economic viability of the industry."

"...Public native forestry struggled financially, offering “poor returns to taxpayers at best. The government should look at the economic costs and benefits of the native forestry business in NSW and consider whether community welfare is served by continuing this practice.”
>>
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/dec/18/bad-deal-for-taxpayers-huge-losses-from-nsw-forest-logging-reports-reveal
#biodiversity #ClimateEmergency #LoggingImpacts #LoggingIndustry #NSWLogging #FCNSW #EndangeredSpecies #koalas #gliders #deforestation #governance #harm #TheGreatKoalaNationalPark #tax

NSW's native forest logging industry ruled not 'economically viable'.

"The recommendation was made by the NSW Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) in its triennial analysis of the government-owned logging company Forestry Corporation of NSW."

"It found Forestry Corporation's native timber operation had been steadily losing money over the past decade, in part due to delivering timber to sawmills for less than the cost of providing it."

"It also noted concerns about logging making bushfires worse and damaging threatened species' habitat."

"The revelation comes the same week that Forestry Corporation released its annual report, which shows it suffered a $29 million loss in its native logging division in the 2022-2023 financial year. Studies have suggested shutting the industry could bring net economic benefits to the economy"
>>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12-17/nsw-native-forest-logging-not-economically-viable-report-finds/104721248
#NativeForests #LoggingIndustry #LoggingImpacts #FCNSW #NSWLogging #BellingenLogging #degradation #biodiversity #harm #ClimateBreakdown #wildlife #koalas #plantations #StopLoggingKoalaHabitat #bushfires #risks #TheGreatKoalaNationalPark #destruction

Australia leads the world in arresting climate and environment protesters
Criminalisation and Repression of Climate and Environmental Protests

"More than 20 per cent of all climate and environment protests in Australia involve arrests, which is more than three times the global average (6.3 per cent)...Australia's arrest rate was the highest of 14 countries in the global study.It's higher than policing efforts in the United Kingdom (17.2 per cent), Norway (14.5 per cent), and the United States (10 per cent)." >>

"Australia's political leaders have joined the "rapid escalation" of efforts to criminalise and repress climate and environmental protest."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12-15/australia-leads-world-in-arresting-climate-environment-activists/104721294

Study: Criminalisation and Repression of Climate and Environmental Protests, University of Bristol >>
https://bpb-eu-w2.wpmucdn.com/blogs.bristol.ac.uk/dist/f/1182/files/2024/12/Criminalisation-and-Repression-of-Climate-and-Environmental-Protests.pdf

The Global Warning Report: The Threat to Climate Defenders in Australia
"That EDO report warned of "a worrying proliferation of anti-protest legislation in Australia," The "systemic repression faced by climate activists across the country," and the "unregulated political influence of the fossil fuel industry driving that repression." >>
https://www.edo.org.au/publication/global-warning-report-the-threat-to-climate-defenders-in-australia/#:~:text=The%20Global%20Warning%20Report%3A%20The,fuel%20industry%20driving%20that%20repression.

"A 2024 position paper from the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders that warned of the growing urgency of the "triple environmental crisis of pollution, biodiversity loss and climate change and the global increase in civil disobedience in environmental activism in response to those crises."
https://unece.org/sites/default/files/2024-02/UNSR_EnvDefenders_Aarhus_Position_Paper_Civil_Disobedience_EN.pdf
#HumanRights #ProtectProtest #CivilDisobedience #rights #law #HumanRights #democracy #criminalisation #Australia #FossilFuels #Indusrty #LoggingIndustry #externalities #harm #NSWLogging #biodiversity #ClimateBreakdown #EDO

The Nature Positive deal: “The barbarians flexed their muscles and that was that.”

"Environment minister agreed detail with Greens but the PM intervened after lobbying from WA premier and miners. But sadly, until now, we have not been able to land an agreement, because it seems the miners and the loggers in this place have more influence than the environment minister, and that’s a real shame...The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, which Plibersek’s bill would have amended, would have helped repair “a completely broken system”.
>>
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/nov/29/tanya-plibersek-deal-on-nature-laws-was-overruled-by-anthony-albanese
#Biodiversity #governance #NaturePositive #NatureNegative #NSWLogging #loggingIndustry #mining #deforestation #landclearing #extractivism #environment #laws #Australia #law