Letter to Prime Minister John Howard

 

The Prime Minister of Australia
The Rt. Hon. John Howard MHR,
Parliament House,
Canberra 2600, ACT, Australia

Regarding:

DESTRUCTION OF TASMANIAN FORESTS, WILDERNESS AND WILDLIFE BY THE TASMANIAN GOVERNMENT AND GUNNS

Dear Prime Minister Howard:
 

The undersigned organizations respectfully request that the Australian Government take urgent action to protect the native forests and wildlife of Tasmania as we have discovered that these vital resources are being destroyed at an unprecedented rate by methods virtually unheard of in developed nations. While we welcome the protection of certain areas in the Tarkine rainforest and Styx Valley provided for in your agreement with the Tasmanian Government last year, clearly much more needs to be done to protect Tasmania's world-class forests.

We are dismayed that the Tasmanian Government supports practices such as clearing massive tracts of native forest for plantations, firebombing the clear-cut forests, and poisoning of hundreds of thousands of native wildlife. It is outrageous that Tasmania’s Regional Forest Agreement effectively exempts logging companies such as GUNNS from both national and state laws aimed at protecting threatened species and the environment, and even the state’s own resource-management and planning laws.

We note that over 85% of Australians support intervention by the Australian Government to protect Tasmania's old-growth forests (according to a 2004 opinion poll by Newspoll) and that the accelerated destruction of these forests compromises the economic prospects of Tasmania’s most viable industry: tourism of the state’s world-class natural landscape.

The key question that arises then is whether the Tasmanian Government’s first priority is to serve the best interests of the Australian people or the best interests of GUNNS Ltd.?

Finally, we note that the your Federal Government and the Tasmanian Government have both allocated substantial Australian taxpayer funds - over $150 million and $90 million respectfully - for forest-industry initiatives in Tasmania. We urge that instead of utilizing these funds to further escalate the destruction of Tasmania’s vital natural resources the funding is alternatively spent on re-structuring Tasmania’s logging industry so as to ensure economic sustainability and protection for Tasmania's native forests and wildlife.

We therefore respectfully request that your Government take the following actions:

1. Formally Protect Tasmania's World-Class Forests and End Native Forest Clearing

Tasmanian forests with documented World Heritage value are being destroyed in regions adjacent to Tasmania's World Heritage Area and inside the Tarkine Rainforest. In eastern and northern Tasmania, remnant forests whose protection is essential for the maintenance of Tasmania's biodiversity are also being destroyed. This destruction threatens several endangered species such as the Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle and spotted-tail quoll with local extinction. GUNNS Ltd consumes the vast majority of the logs extracted from these areas. We urge your government to use all of its legal and financial powers to prevent further destruction of these world-class forests by providing them with formal protection.

On a per-hectare basis, Tasmania’s rate of tree-clearing is among the highest in the world. While your Government's agreement with the Tasmanian Government to eventually phase out the clear-cutting of native forests is welcome, it has apparently prompted an unprecedented frenzy of clearing that – if left unchecked - will cause irreversible damage to Tasmania’s biodiversity, wilderness and water resources. This acceleration is indicated by GUNNS’s plans to expand plantation establishment (presumably at the expense of native forest) and Forestry Tasmania’s Three Year Plan for native forest clearing.

Lastly, the practice of fire-bombing cleared forests used by the Tasmanian Government and GUNNS should be immediately banned. These large fires create mushroom clouds (visibly similar to those caused by atomic bombs) that convert huge amounts of carbon (previously stored in the forest) into greenhouse gases, thus exacerbating global warming. The fires also incinerate usable timber and any wildlife that survived the initial logging, and escaped fires have burnt adjacent heritage areas, national parks, and private land.

Overall, these tree-clearing practices are both economically unsustainable and otherwise unheard of in other developed nations. We therefore request that you greatly accelerate your Government’s efforts to end these barbaric practices and finally protect Tasmania’s world-class and native forests from unsustainable and irreversible destruction.

2. Immediately Ban the Poisoning of Native Wildlife on both Public and Private Land

In your election policy of October 2004, you promised to end the use of 1080 poison against native wildlife on Tasmania's private lands by December 2005. That objective has not been met. Hundreds of thousands of native animals - including so-called non-target species such as wombats and bettongs – continue to be poisoned by GUNNS and others. We note that your commitment to end 1080 poisoning on public land by December 2005 appears to have been met. If it can be done on public land, it can be done on private land. The practice of poisoning native wildlife brings Tasmania and Australia into disrepute. We strongly urge you to promptly fulfill your promise to end this inhumane practice.

3. Introduce Legislation to Protect Public Participation in the Democratic Process

We are extremely concerned that GUNNS's writ against conservationists for $6.8 million will have a seriously adverse impact on freedom of speech in Australia. This manner of aggressive litigation is not a constructive way of resolving public debates. We therefore urge your Government to condemn the GUNNS 20 writ and to ensure that legislation protecting of the rights of citizens to participate in public debate is passed.

4. Withdraw Your Support for GUNNS' Environmentally-Damaging Pulp Mill Proposal

The chlorine-bleaching Pulp Mill planned by GUNNS would greatly escalate old-growth forest destruction while also polluting the atmosphere and local marine environment. Your Government’s Minister for Fisheries, Forestry & Conservation recently announced the provision of a $2.4-million grant to GUNNS for development of its Pulp Mill despite violation of GUNNS’s former assurance to your Government and the public that only a non-chlorine-bleaching Pulp Mill would be pursued. We therefore urge you to withdraw all support for the current Pulp Mill proposal until GUNNS agrees to operate in a more environmentally responsible manner that is consistent with the objectives outlined above.

 

*          *          *

 

In conclusion, we note that Australia’s well-deserved reputation of being a responsible international leader is in jeopardy. We are alarmed to discover that Australia’s national environment laws do not provide effective protection against the destructive practices and attacks on the freedom of speech aforementioned in this letter. We sincerely hope that the Australian Government will take the urgent steps needed in order to assure that sustainable protection is achieved for Tasmania’s forests and that the public’s right to free speech is protected.

 

 

Yours Sincerely,

  • Rainforest Action Network
  • Friends of the Earth International
  • Friends of the Earth USA
  • The Sierra Club
  • Forest Ethics
  • National Resources Defense Council
  • World Temperate Rainforests Network
  • International Forum on Globalization
  • Native Forest Network
  • Global Exchange
  • Pacific Environment
  • Global Response
  • Ruckus Society
  • Earth Island
  • Japan Tropical Forest Action Network (JATAN), Tokyo
  • Friends of the Earth Japan, Tokyo
  • Chip Stop Tasmania Japan, Tokyo
  • Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society (JACSES)
  • Greens JAPAN, Tokyo
  • NPO RAINBOW, Tokyo
  • NPO KOKUSANZAI, Tokyo
  • The Sloth Club, Tokyo
  • Group for Protecting Tasmanian Forest, Tokyo
  • Matsudo Citizen Network, Matudo, Chiba Pref.
  • AM-Net (Advocacy & Monitoring Network - Sustainable Development)
  • SAKAMOTO Public Policy Office, Osaka
  • HUTAN Group, Osaka
  • ECOLO JAPAN, Osaka
  • Missionary Society of St Columban, Tokyo
  • Eco-House Shizuoka, Shizuoka
  • JATAN Shizuoka, Shizuoka
  • Globalization Watch Hiroshima, Hiroshima
  • Fukuoka NGO Forum on ADB (Asian Development Bank), Fukuoka
  • Movement of Rainbow and Greens
  • Western Canada Wilderness Committee
  • Coast Range Association
  • Canadian EarthCare Society
  • Alaska Rainforest Campaign
  • Friends of Clayoquot Sound
  • Friends of Cathedral Grove