27 January, 2008

LETTER: Wood for the trees

Bianca Faye, North Fitzroy
Letter to the Editor, The Age, 27 January 2007

Thanks to Peter Weekes, it appears that the real story of the tragic and pointless destruction of Victoria's native forests is finally becoming exposed.

On the back of the embarrassing revelation that the Victorian Government actually makes a loss woodchipping forests that are worth far more as carbon sinks and water catchments, is the latest contribution — that 85% of our logged native forest ends up as woodchips, and a paltry 5% as appearance timber.

While the Brumby Government subsidises the accumulation of shameless profits for woodchip companies, the same forests are about to become more valuable on the global carbon trading market if they are left standing.

Labor governments in NSW, WA and Queensland all grew a brain years ago and have set their logging industries on a path to dependence on plantations. Meanwhile Victoria, with Australia's largest plantations resource, is set to become like Tasmania, where the forest conflict now poisons the social fabric of the island state.

Source: Letters - theage.com.au

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