2021-10-31
Steps towards that long-term goal but still much work to do in developing a new Forest Management Plan
By Jess Beckerling, Convenor Western Australian Forest Alliance and Campaign Director Forests for Life
On the 8th of September 2021, Premier McGowan announced that WA will end native forest logging by January 2024, saying that the forests’ climate and biodiversity values are profound and must be protected for future generations.
This is a major breakthrough and is incredibly significant both on the ground, and in terms of how the politics and culture around forest matters have now shifted.
It means that hundreds of thousands of hectares of karri, jarrah and wandoo forests will be safe from logging machinery and chainsaws. It also represents a long overdue shift in Government thinking about the South West forests, where their intrinsic values and the intergenerational significance of their climate and biodiversity values are given precedence. It is seed of change where the colonial, extractive mindset, which has dominated the way forests and Country have been viewed here for nearly 200 years, has given way to one which acknowledges and prioritises the inherent and profound value of the forests just as they are. This in itself is something to celebrate and nurture.
The end of logging in WA will coincide with the end of the current 10-year Forest Management Plan, which was written under the Barnett Government and came into effect in 2013.
According to the announcement, logging will continue as normal for the next two years until the expiry of current timber supply contracts, giving workers and businesses two years’ notice of the upcoming change. When the next 10-year Forest Management Plan comes into effect on the 1st of January 2024, it will not provide for any logging of native forests. Instead, Government will act to complete the transition of the industry to plantations. $350 million has been made available to the expansion of the softwood plantation sector, and $50 million will support transition of the remaining 400 – 500 workers still in the native forest logging industry. This ‘just transition’ package is a good start, but we also need to see practical steps taken to develop the hardwood plantation sector and to integrate more trees onto farms.
A lot of damage can be done by 20-tonne logging machinery in the karri, jarrah and wandoo forests in two years, and we need to maintain our focus and vigilance to see these impacts limited as much as possible. It is critical that logging is kept out of the most environmentally significant areas; that companies are supported to exit early with commensurate support for associated workers; and that there is an increase in monitoring of logging activities.
While native forest logging is set to end, a danger lurks in the undefined area of ‘ecological thinning’. No details have yet been provided about which areas Government plans to develop thinning programs for, or on what basis. WA Forest Alliance understands that thinning is only being contemplated for ‘ecological health’ reasons and clearly this could only be justified, particularly in the context of the end to native forest logging, if it is limited to highly localised programs in immature regrowth and minesite rehabilitation. But real concerns exist that industry is pushing for thinning of jarrah areas across the landscape and that thinning may, in effect, become logging by another name.
Before the details of any programs are developed, there needs to be consensus about the objectives, methodologies, monitoring systems, safeguards, anticipated results and end points. If thinning is to genuinely improve ecological health and resilience of degraded areas, it is critically important that in the first instance, any programs are designed and implemented by restoration ecologists and Traditional Owners. Anyone who has been paying attention to forest matters, or the intersect between capitalism and conservation more generally, knows that supply contracts can quickly become a driver of a program, prioritised above social and environmental concerns. We have a once in a generation opportunity to get forest conservation on track here in WA and we must be alert to all the possible pitfalls as the next FMP is developed.
Industry is pushing, here and around the world, for more native forest biomass to be burned to produce energy and fuels. In a classic green-washing exercise, they claim that biomass is a carbon-neutral, climate friendly energy source. In fact, it is nothing of the sort. Biomass emits more carbon dioxide per unit of energy generated than coal and gas do, and it creates perverse incentives for forests to be logged in the process. It is a looming climate and biodiversity disaster and we must not let it get any footholds as proponents try to prosecute an economic case for broadscale thinning programs.
It was only a few months ago that we delivered 29,000 messages calling on the Premier to stop native forest logging. And at that event, as the Carnaby’s circled overhead, I said that we had two steps in front of us: first, we needed Government to agree to an end to native forest logging; and then we could work to ensure the development of a world-class Forest Conservation Plan. Thanks to the incredible work of so many, we are on track.
Now, our task is to get the details right so that the next 10-year plan for our forests is a tangible representation of this shift in thinking that prioritises the protection of the forests’ intrinsic, climate and biodiversity values. This means that we nip any danger of broadscale thinning in the bud; that we stop Alcoa and South 32’s proposed expansions of bauxite mining in the Jarrah forests and prevent any other mining expansions into forest ecosystems; that we see an overhaul of fire management well in advance of the publication of the next FMP; that there is co-vesting and management with Bibbulmun People; and the forest ecosystems are securely protected in appropriate reserves.
One of the strengths of the WA campaign has been its commitment to carrying on the legacy of work done by people before us, and in doing so to honour what has been achieved and to learn from collective past experience. This time, that means celebrating and being grateful for the enormous amount of work done by so many thousands of people; being conscious of the possibility of devils emerging in the detail being developed; and keeping the campaign fires stoked in the full knowledge that we are not done here just yet.
We have three celebrations coming up in Denmark, Margaret River and Fremantle with an exhibition of campaign archives and memorabilia at the Fremantle fiesta in December. Keep an eye on our website, social media and emails and please come along. And if you agree with our outline of what’s needed for the next 10-year plan, please sign and share our online email to Ministers Sanderson and Kelly and stay involved. Together we’re formidable!
Header photo: Grand Postcard Handover. Some of the team, March 2021. WA Forest Alliance
[Opinions expressed are those of the author and not official policy of Greens WA]