South Coast conservationists have declared the UN International Forests Day on March 21 as a day of shame for the NSW Forestry Corporation and the NSW Government because of the systematic destruction of South Coast forests.
They should hang their heads in shame while the world recognises the critical importance of intact, healthy forests for cool climate, carbon stores, forest plants and animals, clean air, clean water and soil conservation.
They have systematically strip mined the South Coast forests for logs from Eden to Nowra for nearly 50 years and caused immense damage to nature. It is industrial logging at its worst – smash and grab as much as you can, as quickly as you can and then move on before the community really understand what they have lost.
Yet they are determined to bulldoze through new 20 year Regional Forest Agreements that will operate under even weaker environmental regulation. They plan to turn the forests into stick farms to fuel power stations, supply the Eden Chip Mill with woodchips for paper pulp and provide firewood to Canberra and Sydney.
“Forestry is now so desperate for logs to meet its unsustainable sawmill contracts, for woodchips to the Eden Chip Mill and commercial firewood that it has commenced to log intensively the sight screens along the Princes Highway and close into coastal towns like Mogo, Batemans Bay, Moruya, Narooma and Bermagui.”
