If Eric Abetz’s climate-denying agenda wasn’t already obvious to Tasmanians, yesterday it reached new heights. State Growth employees were told the retrograde forestry industry is being “realigned” to sit within, of all places, RECFIT.
According to its website, the agency Renewables Climate and Future Industries Tasmania aims to “help Tasmania reach its vision for reliable, sustainable and renewable energy development and climate action.”
How can accelerating native forest logging and burning be aligned with the goals of the RECFIT, to reduce carbon emissions and take climate action?
When asked this in Parliament, Minister Abetz proudly claimed trees that are logged in lutruwita/Tasmania continue to store sequestered carbon.
This is true for less than 10% of our forest products, with the rest releasing carbon as they quickly degrade in the manufacturing process, for uses such as paper. 90% of the forests logged directly contribute to climate change.
Given lutruwita/Tasmania is continuing to emit carbon across industry sectors, we need to keep our native forests in the ground, and ensure they can continue sequestering carbon instead of releasing tonnes of it.
Yet under the responsibility of a climate-denying Liberal Minister, RECFIT will now be responsible for the 40,000ha of Future Reserve Forest, being made available for logging Rockliff Government. These forests were independently assessed as high conservation value – as public land, crucial habitat for endangered species and a major carbon store.
Under this government, communities are in the dark as to whether their wild places will be the next on the chopping block.
