Forest and Wood Communities has launched an online petition for people to show their support for sustainable forestry, regional communities and local timber production.
By Monday morning 1502 people had signed the petition. Source: Timberbiz
In the invitation to sign the petition the group says that in NSW, the native forest sector contributes $1.1billion to the GDP and directly supports 8990 families. This is being threatened by misleading campaigns against the sector which ignore credible science and falsely portray our tightly regulated timber sector as reckless.
It says these campaigns are influencing policy which is damaging regional communities and leading to greater reliance on timber from countries which do not have the same environmental safeguards.
“Did you know that selective harvesting does NOT adversely impact koala density, nor the nutritional quality of koala habitat? This completely debunks the ‘citizen scientist’ theory about forestry and koalas which underpins their dishonest campaign to lock up even more forest in a Great Koala National Park.
“Did you know that just 0.06% of Australia’s native forests are harvested and regrown by law each year? This tiny fraction directly supports around 52,000 of full-time jobs and keeps timber towns thriving.
“Did you know that the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change states that forestry is recognised as our best chance to mitigate climate change? Yet Australia’s forest policies are dangerously out of step with international climate science and are turning our bush into unmanaged fire traps.”
Forest and Wood Communities says that with the NSW state election “racing towards us, we must act now”.
“This issue has become a key election platform for political opportunists, but we can show the Government that our vital timber sector and the timber communities it supports are more important than unnecessarily locking up more bush.”
The petition can be found at https://chng.it/ZZM54wWx
