An open letter to the parliament of Australia

SADNESS at the losses from the fires sears our souls. Worse might lie in wait. We write to ask you to respond to the climate, fire, drought and biodiversity loss crises with an immediate nationwide cessation of all native forest logging.

We need our forestry workers to be immediately redeployed to fire services support and national park management to help protect the forests and us from fire.

Large, old-growth trees are important for carbon capture and storage and they keep on capturing carbon for their entire life.

Logging increases fire hazard in the short term. Many native species rely on unlogged forests. Our timber needs can be met from existing plantations, with no need to log native forests. Native forest logging is heavily subsidised by our taxes, which can be better spent on fire mitigation.

This is above politics — please show the leadership Australia desperately needs.

Prof James Kirkpatrick, Distinguished Professor Geography and Spatial Sciences, University of Tasmania Prof Tim Flannery, Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, University of Melbourne Prof William Laurance, director of the Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science, James Cook University Dr Jen Sanger, The Tree Projects, Geography and Spatial Sciences, University of Tasmania Andrew A. Bluhm, Hardwood Silviculture Cooperative, Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society, Oregon State University Dr Margaret Lowman, University of Singapore, Director of TREE Foundation Professor Louise Ashton, Assistant Professor, School of Biological Sciences, University of Hong Kong Dr Dominick DellaSala, President and Chief Scientist, Geos Institute Prof John Church, Climate Change Research Centre, University of NSW Janette Bulkan, Assoc/Prof, Department of Forest Resources Management, Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia John Palmer, Honorary research associate, Department of Forest Resources Management, Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia Dr Tim Cadman, Research Fellow, Institute for Ethics, Governance and Law, Griffith University Dr Chloe Lucas, Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Geography and Spatial Sciences, UTAS Catherine Kirby, Research Manager, University of Waikato, New Zealand Dr Carolina Garcia Imhof, PhD Environmental Sciences, UTAS Dr Nick Fitzgerald, Ecologist, UTAS