Forestry firm sparks Green pride
Tom Allen explains why Tasmania’s biggest plantation forestry company is winning over environmentalists and sitting on a gold mine that can play a central role in winding back climate change
IATTENDED last week’s launch of a natural capital report by Forico, this island’s largest plantation forestry company. Forico’s report puts a financial value on the carbon stocks and ecosystems within the 174,000ha of forests it manages, including 75,000ha of native hardwood plantations. Forico also manages 77,000ha of native forests for — get this — conservation. Not logging.
The groundbreaking report found the financial value of Forico’s habitat, biodiversity and natural forest areas are worth about $7 billion.
Given the strong current carbon price, the carbon they sequester is worth $8 billion.
The report suggests Forico is striving to take nature seriously. It’s not often a forestry company, let alone one on this island, puts its money where its mouth is.
Forico states “businesses and investors need to align their activities with nature positive outcomes, supporting net gains in nature by 2030 and full recovery of nature by 2050”. Forico does not rely on the state government and taxpayer funds. It doesn’t log native forests.
It reports against the United Nations’ sustainable development goals. It is certified by respected forest management standard, the Forest Stewardship Council.
In contrast, Forestry Tasmania (Sustainable Timbers Tasmania) is funded with public money diverted from public services and continues to pillage high-conservation-value native forests, for a commercial loss.
This includes habitat for threatened species like the critically endangered swift parrot.
Lutruwita/Tasmania’s forestry industry needs to urgently transition out of high-conservation-value forests to a plantation-based future that takes rising environmental standards seriously — as is expected by communities, and increasingly by timber retailers and consumers.
Victoria is exiting native forest logging by 2030; Western Australia by 2024. New Zealand ended native forest logging 20 years ago and now has a thriving plantation industry.
Ten years ago, Tasmania was ahead of Victoria and WA. We had our own plan, negotiated and backed by state and federal governments, the Tasmanian Forest Agreement.
Under the heading “Transition to greater use of plantations”, the TFA set out investment strategies in research and development and upskilling foresters “to encourage private-sector investment in … plantation wood manufacturing, [to] increase demand for plantations managed to supply solid and reconstituted wood and to assist with a transition”.
In recent days the housing and timber industries clamoured for a long-term plan. There was one, but it was binned in 2014 when the Liberals took power and tore up the TFA. What have they done about forestry since? Sat on their stumps.
The area of forests protected from logging by the TFA compensated for all Tasmania’s carbon emissions so we became net carbon negative, one of two jurisdictions in the world to do so. This powerful climate outcome leveraged the fact that living forests are the best carbon stores we have and Tasmania’s cool-climate forests are the most carbon dense on the planet.
Logging them in a climate crisis is as stupid as it gets. Forestry that knowingly logs high conservation value forests and threatened species habitat is not sustainable. Forests aren’t renewable in timeframes that necessarily suit economics.
Also last week, I stood in the world’s tallest stand of blue gums. They’re in logging coupe DN007B, near Lonnavale in southern Tasmania. These giant trees are home to the world’s fastest parrot.
We’ve renamed this forest Dension Swift Parrot Sanctuary because it should be declared a “swift parrot important breeding area”.
This would be a significant step to protecting all swift parrot habitat. The adjacent coupe has already been logged and burned.
The swift parrot is one of thousands of species on the brink because Australia is the Extinction Nation: a world-leader in extinctions, which our weak environment laws are failing to prevent.
The solution for industry, community and environment is for this island to follow New Zealand, WA and Victoria. Transitioning to a plantation forestry future can protect all our threatened forest-dwelling species, such as parrots, devils, quolls and owls. It’s the best way to protect our Gondwanan forests. It’s the best way to sequester carbon, the best insurance policy for Brand Tasmania and the best protection for our forest life-support systems. The logical solution is to transition to a plantation forest future right now.
Forico is a forestry company making a living without destroying the potent climate and biodiversity solutions and richest terrestrial ecosystems we have: living forests.
The question for our island community, forestry companies and government is how well and how quickly we manage this transition. Premier Gutwein, for the sake of the swift parrot, we urge you to act swiftly.
It’s not often a let forestry company, alone one on this island, puts its money where its mouth is.