tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/logging-2863/articlesLogging – The Conversation2024-03-01T13:54:55Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2243922024-03-01T13:54:55Z2024-03-01T13:54:55ZThe world’s business and finance sectors can do much more to reverse deforestation – here’s the data to prove it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578638/original/file-20240228-18-y5cg7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rainforest jungle in Borneo, Malaysia, is destroyed to make way for oil palm plantations</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/deforestation-aerial-photo-rainforest-jungle-borneo-1098811376">Rich Carey/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Big corporations could drive a worldwide shift towards more <a href="https://forest500.org/sites/default/files/forest_500_financial_institution_selection_methodology_2022.pdf">sustainable supply chains</a> that limit damage caused by deforestation. But progress is being slowed down by weak or non-existent commitments to ensure that supply chains for commodities such as soy, palm oil and beef have not contributed to tropical deforestation, according to analysis recently published by the environmental organisation <a href="https://globalcanopy.org/about-us/">Global Canopy</a>.</p>
<p>Based on ten years of <a href="https://forest500.org/publications/2024-a-decade-of-deforestation-data/">data</a>, the <a href="https://forest500.org/">Forest 500</a> report assessed 350 companies, from high-street supermarkets and food producers that might use soy or beef in their supply chains to firms using tropical timber to build furniture. It also looked at 150 financial institutions that provide <a href="https://forest500.org/publications/2023-watershed-year-action-deforestation/">US$6.1 trillion</a> (£4.8 trillion) of investment to these companies each year. </p>
<p>Nearly one-third of the assessed companies still haven’t committed to avoiding deforestation when trading in commodities such as beef and leather, palm oil, soy, timber and paper pulp. </p>
<p>But progress varies depending on the product. While a majority (76%) of companies assessed for palm oil have a deforestation commitment, 65% of those assessed for beef do not. Conversion to beef pasture is driving a surge in deforestation in Brazil’s Cerrado savannah where, last year, deforestation increased <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68272643">by 43%</a>. </p>
<p>New laws, such as the <a href="https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/forests/deforestation/regulation-deforestation-free-products_en">EU Deforestation Regulation</a> and <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/forest-act">US Forest Act</a>, aim to prevent trade in products that contribute to illegal deforestation. But these <a href="https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/forests/the-cerrado-crisis-brazils-deforestation-frontline/">may not protect habitats such as the Cerrado savannah</a>, for example, which <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68272643">falls out of scope of the new EU regulation</a> because the trees aren’t tall enough to count as forest.</p>
<p>Unless deforestation regulations are strengthened to stop trade in products that have caused the loss of any type of vital natural habitat, companies will not stop trading in products such as beef that are sourced from forests like the Cerrado savannah. </p>
<p>In the UK, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/supermarket-essentials-will-no-longer-be-linked-to-illegal-deforestation">proposed regulations</a> will stop trade in products associated with illegal deforestation, but not those defined as legal under local law. Regulation has a part to play in halting deforestation, but only if it includes all conversion of natural habitats, both legal and illegal, and includes regulation of the finance sector.</p>
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<span class="caption">The Cerrado forest vegetation in Brazil is being burnt to make way for livestock farming.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/burning-cerrado-vegetation-typical-biome-central-2033322188">Sergio Willian fotos/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>International collaborations such as the <a href="https://forestclimateleaders.org/#about">Forest and Climate Leaders Partnership</a> seek to address government and public sector ambition. But steps to reduce deforestation from within the <a href="https://accountability-framework.org/">private sector</a> are just as crucial, because global trade in forest commodities drives loss. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/what-are-drivers-deforestation">greatest drivers</a> of tropical forest loss are conversion to cropland and pasture, building of infrastructure such as mines and roads, and logging for timber. <a href="https://theconversation.com/forests-are-vital-to-protect-the-climate-yet-the-world-is-falling-far-behind-its-targets-216703">Climate change and wildfires</a> add further pressures, <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abp8622">degrading forests</a>. </p>
<p>Trade in products such as coco, coffee, palm oil, soybeans, beef and leather, timber and wood pulp all expose companies to deforestation risk. The raw trade value of these products – defined as “freight on board” by <a href="https://comtradeplus.un.org/">UN Comm Trade</a> – in 2022 alone was more than US$32 billion.</p>
<p>It’s hard to move away from deforestation to make valuable products when the practices are supported by <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2023/06/15/trillions-wasted-on-subsidies-could-help-address-climate-change">huge subsidies</a>. Those to the soy, palm oil and beef industries support <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2023/06/15/trillions-wasted-on-subsidies-could-help-address-climate-change">14% of annual global forest loss</a>. The annual funding for forests is <a href="https://www.wwf.org.uk/learn/landscapes/forests/pathways-report-summary">less than 1%</a> that which funds environmentally harmful subsidies, so progress in reducing deforestation is undermined by an enormous financial gap. This needs to be closed in order to start financially incentivising forest protection. </p>
<p>Human rights issues and deforestation go hand-in-hand because many Indigenous peoples and local communities are <a href="https://www.wwf.org.uk/sites/default/files/2023-10/WWF-Forest-Pathways-Report-2023.pdf">denied land rights to their forests</a>. It is vital that companies ensure their supply chains do not exacerbate land rights denial – but here the new report highlights a global blind spot. </p>
<p>Only 1% of Forest 500 companies had a policy for all of the human rights issues relating to at least one of the highest-risk commodities they were assessed for. And most of the companies assessed (91%) did not have a published commitment to ensuring that all rights-based conflicts are resolved before they finalise new developments or acquisitions in their supply chains.</p>
<h2>Global forest goals</h2>
<p>2023 was a landmark year for the planet’s forests. For the first time, the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cop26-world-leaders-summit-on-action-on-forests-and-land-use-2-november-2021/world-leaders-summit-on-action-on-forests-and-land-use">global goal</a> to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030 was formally adopted <a href="https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/cma2023_L17_adv.pdf">by the UN</a>. </p>
<p>Yet despite everything forests do for <a href="https://theconversation.com/forests-are-vital-to-protect-the-climate-yet-the-world-is-falling-far-behind-its-targets-216703">nature, people and the climate</a>, forest loss continues almost unabated. In 2022, an area of forest <a href="https://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?9899941/Forest-Pathways-Report-2023">the size of Denmark</a> was lost. The new report shows there is still a huge gap between ambition and action. </p>
<p>There is no legally binding international framework convention on forests, so most forest commitments are voluntary. <a href="https://wwf.panda.org/discover/our_focus/markets/deforestation_conversion_free/">Advice to companies</a> on how to accelerate and scale up deforestation and conversion-free supply chains is widespread, but the <a href="https://forest500.org/analysis/insights/major-companies-and-financial-institutions-are-persistently-ignoring-their-role-in-driving-deforestation/">Forest 500 assessment</a> concludes that the private sector isn’t taking voluntary action fast enough.</p>
<p>Only 3% of Forest 500 companies are fully and publicly reporting deforestation in their supply chains, and <a href="https://forest500.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Forest500_Annual-Report-2024_Final.pdf">63% fail to publish adequate evidence</a> of the implementation of their deforestation commitments. This makes it difficult for consumers to be sure that the products they buy are not contributing to any form of forest loss.</p>
<p>As the report concludes, new regulations to address deforestation must be ambitious and cover both legal and illegal deforestation. They must also address the conversion of natural ecosystems for forest commodities that result in environmental destruction, and any associated human rights abuses. </p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary Gagen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A recently published report sheds light on how 350 big companies and 150 financial institutions are falling behind with goals to halt and reverse deforestation.Mary Gagen, Professor of Physical Geography, Swansea UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2231822024-02-13T19:08:16Z2024-02-13T19:08:16ZNew logging rules in NSW put the greater glider closer to extinction. When will we start protecting these amazing animals?<p>Forty years ago when my colleagues and I did spotlighting surveys, the southern greater glider was the most common animal we’d see. Now, this amazing species is endangered. In many areas it is hard to find; in others it has been lost altogether.</p>
<p>Australia has a <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adg7870">disproportionately large</a> number of in-danger species, and their decline follows a well-trodden path. Common species become uncommon, then uncommon species become rare. Rare species become threatened or endangered. Then tragically, endangered species go extinct. </p>
<p>Australia leads the world in native mammal extinctions – roughly 10% have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1417301112">become extinct</a> since British invasion. The southern greater glider is heading towards this fate.</p>
<p>That’s why ecologists were shocked by a recent announcement by New South Wales environment authorities that we believe loosens protections for southern greater gliders in logging areas. </p>
<h2>A marsupial to cherish</h2>
<p>The southern greater glider is an iconic marsupial. It’s one of three species of greater gliders found in eastern Australia. It was <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/species/pubs/254-conservation-advice-05072022.pdf">listed</a> as vulnerable to extinction under national environment law in 2016, then <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jul/05/greater-glider-now-endangered-as-logging-bushfires-and-global-heating-hit-numbers">uplisted</a> to endangered in 2022.</p>
<p>Greater gliders are amazing animals. Their diet is low on nutrients, comprised almost entirely of eucalypt leaves and buds. Yet they are the world’s largest gliding marsupial, weighing up to 1.3 kg and capable of gliding up to 100m through a forest. </p>
<p>Southern greater gliders have white bellies and thick back fur that ranges from pure white to jet black.</p>
<p>The species is highly dependent on forest habitat and, in particular, large trees with hollows where they shelter and breed. But sadly, <a href="https://www.environment.vic.gov.au/conserving-threatened-species/threatened-species-fact-sheets/greater-glider">extensive glider habitat</a> has been burnt, logged or both. Climate change poses a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2011.02.022">further</a> risk. </p>
<p>We have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2011.02.022">long been concerned</a> for the southern greater glider. In the wet forests of Victoria, for example, their numbers have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/acv.12634">declined</a> by 80% since 1997. In 2007, the species became <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2018.03.007">regionally extinct</a> at Booderee National Park, south of Sydney.</p>
<p>When the southern greater glider was upgraded to endangered, Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jul/05/greater-glider-now-endangered-as-logging-bushfires-and-global-heating-hit-numbers">said</a> the new listing would “ensure prioritisation of recovery actions to protect this iconic species”. She noted that habitat protection and land clearing were “primarily the responsibility of state governments”.</p>
<p>You might think, then, that state governments would now be working harder to protect greater glider habitat. But a recent decision in NSW suggests little has changed.</p>
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<h2>What the changes mean</h2>
<p>The NSW Environment Protection Authority this month <a href="https://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/news/media-releases/2024/epamedia240202-new-protections-for-endangered-southern-greater-gliders">announced</a> changes to rules in logging operations. It claims the amendments constitute “new protections” for greater gliders. But many ecologists, us included, believe the changes are designed to make logging easier and will leave the species at greater risk.</p>
<p>At present, Forestry Corporation staff undertake pre-logging habitat searches for trees that might contain hollows. They must retain eight of these trees per hectare but can log right up to the tree base. The staff must also look for den trees (where an animal is actually seen entering or leaving a tree hollow) – although this is problematic as gliders are active at night and the surveys take place during the day. If a den tree is found, it must be protected and a 50m area around it retained.</p>
<p>Under the proposed new rules, Forestry Corporation will have to keep more large hollow-bearing trees per hectare – 14 instead of the current eight in high-density glider areas, and 12 instead of the current eight in low-density areas. A 50m exclusion zone will remain around known recorded locations of greater glider dens, but there will no longer be a requirement to specifically find or protect den trees. </p>
<p>This means actual habitat where greater gliders currently occur, and occupy den trees, may not be protected. We believe this will increase the gliders’ rate of decline and fast-track it towards extinction. </p>
<p>The new rules were due to begin on February 9, but were <a href="https://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/news/media-releases/2024/epamedia240209-forestry-protocol">postponed</a> by a week. In a statement, the authority said it was “consulting with stakeholders and considering their feedback to ensure we find the most appropriate way to address concerns while achieving long-term protections for this endangered species”.</p>
<p>If the authority is serious about protecting greater gliders, it will move to strengthen not weaken protections for greater glider habitat.</p>
<h2>Logging glider habitat is nonsensical</h2>
<p>Since the southern greater glider was listed as vulnerable in 2016, its habitat continued to be <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-has-failed-greater-gliders-since-they-were-listed-as-vulnerable-weve-destroyed-more-of-their-habitat-164872">destroyed</a>. This is poor management for many reasons:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>gliders often <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3041">die on site</a> when their habitat is disturbed</p></li>
<li><p>young forests recovering after disturbances tend to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2022.120101">hotter and drier</a>, which is bad for gliders because they are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00683223">heat-sensitive</a> </p></li>
<li><p>removing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2017.02.014">hollow-bearing trees</a> not only destroys a key part of glider habitat immediately, but it can take decades (if not centuries) for forest to become suitable again </p></li>
<li><p>logging makes forests <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.13041">more flammable</a> and gliders are particularly <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/acv.12634">sensitive</a> to fire</p></li>
<li><p>logging can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2019.117585">change</a> the composition of tree species in a forest, reducing the availability of quality food for gliders. </p></li>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-has-failed-greater-gliders-since-they-were-listed-as-vulnerable-weve-destroyed-more-of-their-habitat-164872">Australia has failed greater gliders: since they were listed as 'vulnerable' we’ve destroyed more of their habitat</a>
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<h2>The choice is ours</h2>
<p>Human activity has left few remaining refuges for the southern greater glider. Any remaining habitat should be subject to the highest protections.</p>
<p>Logging those refuges is nonsensical given the large body of scientific work demonstrating its negative effects. And tinkering around the edge of logging rules will have limited benefits. </p>
<p>Australia has already lost so many wonderful mammal species. Do we want the southern greater glider to suffer the same fate? If not, let’s stop destroying the forests our species need to survive.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/greater-gliders-are-hurtling-towards-extinction-and-the-blame-lies-squarely-with-australian-governments-186469">Greater gliders are hurtling towards extinction, and the blame lies squarely with Australian governments</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223182/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Lindenmayer receives funding from the Australian and Victorian Governments and the Australian Research Council. He is a member of the Biodiversity Council and Birdlife Australia. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kita Ashman works for WWF Australia and is an Ambassador for Paddy Pallin.</span></em></p>Australia has already lost so many wonderful mammal species. Do we want the southern greater glider to suffer the same fate?David Lindenmayer, Professor, The Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National UniversityKita Ashman, Adjunct research associate, Charles Sturt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2207712024-01-19T13:40:44Z2024-01-19T13:40:44ZOld forests are critically important for slowing climate change and merit immediate protection from logging<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570228/original/file-20240118-23-ojgpd7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C13%2C2323%2C1893&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An old-growth forest of noble fir trees at Marys Peak in Oregon's Coast Range.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Beverly Law</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Forests are an essential part of Earth’s operating system. They reduce the buildup of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from fossil fuel combustion, deforestation and land degradation <a href="https://essd.copernicus.org/articles/15/5301/2023">by 30% each year</a>. This slows global temperature increases and the <a href="https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4811-2022">resulting changes to the climate</a>. In the U.S., forests take up <a href="https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2023-04/US-GHG-Inventory-2023-Main-Text.pdf">12% of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions annually</a> and store the carbon long term in trees and soils.</p>
<p>Mature and old-growth forests, with larger trees than younger forests, play an outsized role in accumulating carbon and <a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/mature-and-old-growth-forests-tech.pdf">keeping it out of the atmosphere</a>. These forests are especially <a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/mature-and-old-growth-forests-tech.pdf">resistant to wildfires and other natural disturbances</a> as the climate warms.</p>
<p>Most forests in the continental U.S. have been harvested multiple times. Today, just 3.9% of timberlands across the U.S., in public and private hands, <a href="https://doi.org/10.2737/WO-GTR-97">are over 100 years old</a>, and most of these areas hold relatively little carbon compared with their potential. </p>
<p>The Biden administration is moving to <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/04/27/2022-09138/strengthening-the-nations-forests-communities-and-local-economies">improve protection for old-growth and mature forests</a> on federal land, which we see as a welcome step. But this involves regulatory changes that will likely take several years to complete. Meanwhile, existing forest management plans that allow logging of these important old, large trees remain in place.</p>
<p>As scientists who have spent decades studying <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=J2KWqAoAAAAJ&hl=en">forest ecosystems</a> and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/William-Moomaw">the effects of climate change</a>, we believe that it is essential to start protecting carbon storage in these forests. In our view, there is ample scientific evidence to justify an immediate moratorium on logging mature and old-growth forests on federal lands. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Remote sensing data from space is a new tool for estimating forest growth and density.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Federal action to protect mature and old-growth forests</h2>
<p>A week after his inauguration in 2021, President Joe Biden issued an executive order that set a goal of <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/27/executive-order-on-tackling-the-climate-crisis-at-home-and-abroad/">conserving at least 30%</a> of U.S. lands and waters by 2030 to address what the order called “a profound climate crisis.” In 2022, Biden recognized the climate importance of mature and old-growth forests for a healthy climate and <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/04/27/2022-09138/strengthening-the-nations-forests-communities-and-local-economies">called for conserving them</a> on federal lands.</p>
<p>Most recently, in December 2023, the U.S. Forest Service announced that it was <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/12/20/2023-27875/land-management-plan-direction-for-old-growth-forest-conditions-across-the-national-forest-system">evaluating the effects</a> of amending management plans for 128 U.S. national forests to better protect mature and old-growth stands – the first time any administration has taken this kind of action. </p>
<p>These actions seek to make existing old-growth forests more resilient; preserve ecological benefits that they provide, such as habitat for threatened and endangered species; establish new areas where <a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/mature-and-old-growth-forests-tech.pdf">old-growth conditions</a> can develop; and monitor the forests’ condition over time. The amended national forest management plans also would prohibit logging old-growth trees for mainly economic purposes – that is, producing timber. Harvesting trees would be permitted for other reasons, such as thinning to reduce fire severity in hot, dry regions where fires occur more frequently. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570231/original/file-20240118-24-xa1x8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman rests her hand on the trunk of an enormous tree, looking up toward its crown." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570231/original/file-20240118-24-xa1x8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570231/original/file-20240118-24-xa1x8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570231/original/file-20240118-24-xa1x8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570231/original/file-20240118-24-xa1x8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570231/original/file-20240118-24-xa1x8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570231/original/file-20240118-24-xa1x8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570231/original/file-20240118-24-xa1x8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Forest biologist Beverly Law with an old-growth Douglas fir in Corvallis, Oregon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Beverly Law</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Remarkably, however, logging is hardly considered in the Forest Service’s <a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/mature-and-old-growth-forests-tech.pdf">initial analysis</a>, although studies show that it causes greater carbon losses than wildfires and pest infestations. </p>
<p>In one analysis across 11 western U.S. states, researchers calculated total aboveground tree carbon loss from logging, beetle infestations and fire between 2003 and 2012 and found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00326-0">logging accounted for half of it</a>. Across the states of California, Oregon and Washington, harvest-related carbon emissions between 2001 and 2016 averaged <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab28bb">five times the emissions</a> from wildfires.</p>
<p>A 2016 study found that nationwide, between 2006 and 2010, total carbon emissions from logging were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s13021-016-0066-5">comparable to emissions from all U.S. coal plants</a>, or to direct emissions from the entire building sector. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569933/original/file-20240117-19-wsd8su.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Close-up of a furry animal with small rounded ears" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569933/original/file-20240117-19-wsd8su.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569933/original/file-20240117-19-wsd8su.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569933/original/file-20240117-19-wsd8su.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569933/original/file-20240117-19-wsd8su.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569933/original/file-20240117-19-wsd8su.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569933/original/file-20240117-19-wsd8su.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569933/original/file-20240117-19-wsd8su.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pacific fishers (<em>Pekania pennanti</em>) are small carnivores related to minks and otters. They live in forests with large, mixed-tree canopy covers, mainly on federal land on the West Coast. A subpopulation in the southern Sierra Nevada is listed as endangered.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/9PufBo">Pacific Southwest Forest Service, USDA/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Logging pressure</h2>
<p>Federal lands are used for multiple purposes, including biodiversity and water quality protection, recreation, mining, grazing and timber production. Sometimes, these uses can conflict with one another – for example, <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R43429">conservation and logging.</a>.</p>
<p>Legal mandates to manage land for multiple uses do not explicitly consider climate change, and federal agencies <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.3286">have not consistently factored climate change science</a> into their plans. Early in 2023, however, the White House <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/ceq/">Council on Environmental Quality</a> directed federal agencies to consider the effects of climate change when they <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/01/09/2023-00158/national-environmental-policy-act-guidance-on-consideration-of-greenhouse-gas-emissions-and-climate">propose major federal actions</a> that significantly affect the environment. </p>
<p>Multiple large logging projects on public land clearly qualify as major federal actions, but many thousands of acres have been <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/36/220.6">legally exempted</a> from such analysis. </p>
<p>Across the western U.S., <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00326-0">just 20% of relatively high-carbon forests</a>, mostly on federal lands, are protected from logging and mining. A study in the lower 48 states found that 76% of mature and old-growth forests on federal lands <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2022.979528">are vulnerable to logging</a>. Harvesting these forests would release about <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/land11050721">half of their aboveground tree carbon</a> into the atmosphere within one or two decades. </p>
<p>An analysis of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1029/2023AV000965">152 national forests</a> across North America found that five forests in the Pacific Northwest had the highest carbon densities, but just 10% to 20% of these lands were protected at the highest levels. The majority of national forest area that is mature and old growth is not protected from logging, and <a href="https://www.climate-forests.org/worth-more-standing">current management plans</a> include logging of some of the largest trees still standing. </p>
<h2>Letting old trees grow</h2>
<p>Conserving forests is one of the most effective and lowest-cost options for managing atmospheric carbon dioxide, and mature and old-growth forests do this job most effectively. Protecting and expanding them does not require expensive or complex energy-consuming technologies, unlike some other <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-oil-industrys-pivot-to-carbon-capture-and-storage-while-it-keeps-on-drilling-isnt-a-climate-change-solution-171791">proposed climate solutions</a>.</p>
<p>Allowing mature and old-growth forests to <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2019.00027">continue growing</a> will remove from the air and store the largest amount of atmospheric carbon in the critical decades ahead. The sooner logging of these forests ceases, the more climate protection they can provide.</p>
<p><em><a href="https://www.woodwellclimate.org/staff/richard-birdsey/">Richard Birdsey</a>, a former U.S. Forest Service carbon and climate scientist and current senior scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center, contributed to this article.</em></p>
<p><em>This is an update of <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-biden-administration-has-called-for-protecting-mature-us-forests-to-slow-climate-change-but-its-still-allowing-them-to-be-logged-199845">an article</a> originally published on March 2, 2023.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220771/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Beverly Law receives funding from the Conservation Biology Institute. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>William Moomaw receives funding from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
</span></em></p>President Biden has called for protecting large, old trees from logging, but many of them could be cut while the regulatory process grinds forward.Beverly Law, Professor Emeritus of Global Change Biology and Terrestrial Systems Science, Oregon State UniversityWilliam Moomaw, Professor Emeritus of International Environmental Policy, Tufts UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2172762023-12-03T22:34:14Z2023-12-03T22:34:14ZA home among the gum trees: will the Great Koala National Park actually save koalas?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562344/original/file-20231129-19-cefvw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C81%2C6016%2C3926&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s a visionary idea: a national park for koalas. Conceived <a href="https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/central-queensland/great-koala-national-park-promised-to-midnorth-coast/news-story/1319b864127035b9e1e4c514fd495f37">over a decade ago</a>, the idea gained prominence after Labor took the idea to three successive elections in New South Wales. Now they’re in office and have finally begun putting commitment to action. </p>
<p>The original idea is simple: a park stretching from Grafton to Kempsey in northern NSW, drawing in over 300,000 hectares of state forest and existing national parks. Covering prime koala habitat, the park would be a safe haven for the <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/biodiversity/threatened/species/koalas/listing-under-national-environmental-law">now-threatened koala</a> as its numbers on the east coast dwindle. </p>
<p>But will it be enough to save the koala from extinction?</p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-1002" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/1002/ec7a3888f31e786241375bd3a0f02ed7d5ad4d42/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>A park with logging and plantations?</h2>
<p>Since the idea was canvassed, the megafires of the 2019–2020 summer have affected more than a third of the proposed park, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/stopping-koala-extinction-is-agonisingly-simple-but-heres-why-im-not-optimistic-141696">killed many hundreds</a> – or even thousands – of koalas. Even so, policy is driven by the original park boundaries and koala population data collected before the fires. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558714/original/file-20231109-21-lli6wh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="burned koala in tree" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558714/original/file-20231109-21-lli6wh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558714/original/file-20231109-21-lli6wh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558714/original/file-20231109-21-lli6wh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558714/original/file-20231109-21-lli6wh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558714/original/file-20231109-21-lli6wh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=640&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558714/original/file-20231109-21-lli6wh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=640&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558714/original/file-20231109-21-lli6wh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=640&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The megafires of the Black Summer hit tree-dwelling koalas hard.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">John</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When you see the phrase “state forest” on a map, it means logging is usually allowed. In National Parks, of course, it’s not. </p>
<p>The Great Koala National Park covers a number of state forests, where logging has continued. </p>
<p>In 2018, the previous state government extended the state’s Regional Forest Agreement logging laws for <a href="https://theconversation.com/proposed-nsw-logging-laws-value-timber-over-environmental-protection-97863">another twenty years</a>. But this extension did not consider the impacts of climate change on forest management, meaning logging levels were not reduced to reflect changing environmental conditions. </p>
<p>In fact, the government went the other way, loosening logging rules to permit larger trees to be cut while koala management prescriptions were weakened. The removal of natural habitat trees up to 140cm diameter were permitted. If a koala was sighted in a tree, that tree could still be removed if the koala moved on.</p>
<p>Despite <a href="https://timcadman.wordpress.com/2023/10/31/why-the-nsw-governments-provisional-koala-park-will-not-save-koalas/">ongoing calls from scientists</a> and citizens, the current state government has allowed logging in the proposed park to continue largely unchecked.</p>
<p>Even when the government has intervened, it has been too little, too late. The <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-12/nsw-government-stops-timber-harvesting-koala-hubs/102844954">recent suspension of logging</a> of 8,000 hectares of forest in <a href="https://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/your-environment/native-forestry/protecting-koala-hubs-in-proposed-great-koala-national-park-assessment-area">so-called koala “hubs”</a> with high population density will not be enough to offset the damage from ongoing logging. Worse, some of the hubs have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/13/greens-and-environmentalists-question-initial-plan-to-pause-logging-in-just-5-of-nsws-promised-koala-park">already been logged</a>. </p>
<p>When you look at the <a href="https://wnc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?webmap=86ef6455e6774815843e4209852a7da7&utm">provisional park boundary</a> – which includes the hubs – you can see all plantations inside the park are excluded. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-koala-when-its-smart-to-be-slow-187003">Friday essay: the koala – when it's smart to be slow</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>This, too, doesn’t make much sense. That’s because koalas, as eucalyptus leaf-eating specialists, actually like hardwood plantations. Similarly, many areas now zoned as plantation were never actually logged and replanted. Instead, they’re a mix of <a href="https://timcadman.wordpress.com/2023/06/02/letter-to-the-prime-minister-nsw-premier-and-ministers-on-plantation-conversion/">original native forest and regrowth</a>, or mixed species of local stock indistinguishable from the natural forests of the region. </p>
<p>These plantations are mostly on prime soils on the coast and consist of moist eucalypt forest and rainforest – ideal food and habitat for the koalas. </p>
<p>But when these areas are clearfelled, they are usually replaced with monoculture coastal blackbutt, which koalas do not like to eat. </p>
<p>As a result, these plantation areas – whether real or just on the map – are critical to the integrity of the park. Koalas cannot read maps, and do not understand human zoning. If their habitat in plantations is cleared, they die – just as we’ve seen in Victoria, where deaths of koalas in blue gum plantations have made <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-16/cape-bridgewater-koala-deaths-bryants-forestry-and-earthmoving/103112004">national news</a>. </p>
<h2>Bring the plantations into the park</h2>
<p>As Victoria and Western Australia fast-track the end of native forest logging, New South Wales has so far not followed suit. </p>
<p>But this may change, as efforts grow <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jul/20/labor-native-forest-logging-environment-action-network-lean">within the federal Labor party</a> to end native forest logging altogether. </p>
<p>If this happens, where will we get timber from? The obvious answer is from plantations. The problem for the NSW Labor government is that the plantations on the mid north coast are prime koala habitat. </p>
<p>For a koala-protecting National Park to actually protect koalas, it must be based on the identification and reservation of high value habitat – such as hardwood plantations. </p>
<p>If we leave all plantations out, some of the best habitat in the park will continue to be logged. Without plantations, the park will be filled with holes, severing critical corridors and hampering the movement of koalas. </p>
<h2>What should we do?</h2>
<p>We have to restore the areas lost to logging and the Black Summer bushfires and flag more forested areas for inclusion – especially unburnt habitat. </p>
<p>And the government has to end logging within the proposed park area. If we want a viable alternative, the government should begin new plantations outside the park area and buy out existing logging contracts inside the park. Logging and koalas do not mix. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558717/original/file-20231109-19-12y66q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="aerial photo of logged area with intact forest behind" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558717/original/file-20231109-19-12y66q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558717/original/file-20231109-19-12y66q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558717/original/file-20231109-19-12y66q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558717/original/file-20231109-19-12y66q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558717/original/file-20231109-19-12y66q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558717/original/file-20231109-19-12y66q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558717/original/file-20231109-19-12y66q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Inside the proposed park, many areas of prime koala habitat have already been logged. This shows Tuckers Nob State Forest after logging.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Google/Airbus</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We should give up on the idea of protecting koala “hubs”. Instead, we should prioritise the protection of koala populations unaffected by fire and in untouched forest areas wherever they are, whether inside or outside of these hubs. </p>
<p>Every bit of habitat on public land should be ruled in, as this is what counts, not zoning. Local communities – not just the forest industry and environment groups – need to be included in negotiations. The government should also consider community efforts to seek <a href="https://greaterkoalapark.org/about-2/">World Heritage protection</a> for these forests. </p>
<p>If the proposed park is to live up to the “Great” in its name, it has to be as big and as well connected as possible. Ruling out some of the best koala habitat in the area is not a great place to start.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/proposed-nsw-logging-laws-value-timber-over-environmental-protection-97863">Proposed NSW logging laws value timber over environmental protection</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217276/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tim Cadman is an environmental researcher and community member who lives within the footprint of the proposed koala reserve. As a local resident, he is a Friend of Kalang Headwaters and engages in science-driven advocacy on matters relating to koala management and forestry.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Danielle Clode does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For the proposed Great Koala National Park to actually help koalas, logging should stop and plantations should be added to the park.Tim Cadman, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow with the Law Futures Centre and the Institute for Ethics, Governance and Law, Griffith UniversityDanielle Clode, Associate Professor (adjunct) in Creative Writing, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2166062023-11-30T19:03:19Z2023-11-30T19:03:19ZCan we sustainably harvest trees from tropical forests? Yes – here are 5 ways to do it better<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562613/original/file-20231130-29-eyet8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=32%2C24%2C5423%2C3607&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/diverse-amazon-forest-seen-above-tropical-2072628056">Panga Media, Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Logging typically <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abp8622">degrades tropical forests</a>. But what if logging is carefully planned and carried out by well-trained workers? </p>
<p>While public campaigns to end logging dominate both the popular press and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06187-1">high-profile science journals</a>, a transition from “timber mining” to evidence-based “managed forestry” is underway. Given <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac102">poor logging practices are likely to continue</a> in about 500 million hectares of tropical forest, efforts to promote responsible forestry deserve more attention. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.climatelinks.org/resources/opportunities-reduce-tropical-forest-degradation-and-mitigate-climate-change">our new report</a> we recommend five ways to improve tropical forest management. This work was funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the US Forest Service International Program.</p>
<p>Fortunately, these practices are compatible with management for non-timber forest products such as fruits, fibres, resins and medicinal plants, as well as biodiversity conservation. They would also reduce carbon emissions and increase carbon removal in cost-effective ways. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fire-is-consuming-more-than-ever-of-the-worlds-forests-threatening-supplies-of-wood-and-paper-216643">Fire is consuming more than ever of the world's forests, threatening supplies of wood and paper</a>
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<h2>Five ways to improve forest fates</h2>
<p>Research shows <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2014.07.003">biodiversity is mostly retained</a> in well managed, selectively logged forests. Especially if <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/btp.12446">hunting is controlled</a> and lower-impact logging practices are employed, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1755-263X.2012.00242.x">carbon stocks remain high</a>.</p>
<p>Harvesting 5–10% of the trees does temporarily reduce the total amount of carbon stored in the forest, but these stocks recover quickly if damage to young trees and soils is kept to a minimum.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562570/original/file-20231129-31-kfjej9.JPEG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3019%2C4028&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man wearing a high-vis vest and hard hat stands alongside a giant tree in a tropical forest." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562570/original/file-20231129-31-kfjej9.JPEG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3019%2C4028&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562570/original/file-20231129-31-kfjej9.JPEG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562570/original/file-20231129-31-kfjej9.JPEG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562570/original/file-20231129-31-kfjej9.JPEG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562570/original/file-20231129-31-kfjej9.JPEG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562570/original/file-20231129-31-kfjej9.JPEG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562570/original/file-20231129-31-kfjej9.JPEG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Managed well, tropical forests can be a sustainable source of timber.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Claudia Romero</span></span>
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<p>Here are five ways to smooth the transition from “timber mining” and clear-felling to managed forestry featuring selective harvesting: </p>
<p><strong>1. Improve logging practices.</strong> Planned harvest operations – carried out by trained workers suitably rewarded for the proper application of lower-impact logging practices – result in less soil erosion, fewer worker injuries, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2019.02.004">half the carbon emissions</a> of conventional logging. </p>
<p><strong>2. Waste less wood.</strong> Workers can be trained to maximise the recovery of wood from harvesting and processing. For instance, if trees are felled properly, stumps are low and fewer logs are broken. </p>
<p><strong>3. Allow time to recover.</strong> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2021.119440">Sustaining timber yields</a> often requires leaving forests alone for longer between harvests (reducing harvest freqency) and/or limiting the amount that can be harvested per unit area. Harvest intensity (that is, the numbers of trees or volumes of timber harvested per unit areas) can be reduced by increasing the distance between harvestable trees or by increasing the minimum size of trees that can be felled. </p>
<p>Either restriction reduces short-term profits, but ensures there will be timber to harvest in the future. Fortunately, these changes also reduce carbon emissions from managed forests, for which there should be compensation from carbon market investors seeking to compensate for their own emissions. </p>
<p><strong>4. Protect young trees.</strong> If we protect and foster the growth of small trees, they will grow to a suitable size for the next harvest. This is especially important in forests that have been disturbed by previous logging. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2023.121038">Liberating the future crop from woody vines</a> (lianas) is a relatively cheap way to augment future timber yields and double the rate at which carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere. </p>
<p><strong>5. Plant more trees.</strong> In areas that lack natural regeneration of commercial tree species, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2017.09.005">enrichment planting</a> can help. If these planted trees are regularly tended for several years, growth and carbon sequestration rates can be substantial.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562571/original/file-20231130-25-b2y5xh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Aerial photo of logging in rainforest showing stark deforestation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562571/original/file-20231130-25-b2y5xh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562571/original/file-20231130-25-b2y5xh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562571/original/file-20231130-25-b2y5xh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562571/original/file-20231130-25-b2y5xh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562571/original/file-20231130-25-b2y5xh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562571/original/file-20231130-25-b2y5xh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562571/original/file-20231130-25-b2y5xh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Forest management provides an alternative to deforestation and forest degradation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/deforestation-aerial-photo-logging-malaysia-rainforest-1408605185">Rich Carey, Shutterstock</a></span>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/indonesia-is-suppressing-environmental-research-it-doesnt-like-that-poses-real-risks-202629">Indonesia is suppressing environmental research it doesn't like. That poses real risks</a>
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<h2>Managed forestry has multiple carbon benefits</h2>
<p>The carbon benefits of all five mechanisms described here are additional. That means they wouldn’t have happened in the absence of the intervention. </p>
<p>So carbon markets should support the transition away from exploitative timber mining once responsible forest management is accepted as a legitimate land use. </p>
<p>Managed forestry also creates jobs for professionals and supports a stable workforce. In contrast, carbon projects based on stopping logging run the risk of sending loggers elsewhere. </p>
<h2>From exploitation and degradation to forest management</h2>
<p>The long-awaited transition from tropical forest exploitation <a href="https://doi.org/10.17528/cifor/005766">to responsible forest management</a> requires support from governments, the private sector, and society as a whole. </p>
<p>Governments will need to enforce their laws. Failing to do so will starve their economies of tax revenue. Meanwhile the glut of illegal timber keeps log prices at a rock bottom low. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562603/original/file-20231130-29-f47ae5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Photo in a tropical forest, looking up at the treetops against the sky" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562603/original/file-20231130-29-f47ae5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562603/original/file-20231130-29-f47ae5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562603/original/file-20231130-29-f47ae5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562603/original/file-20231130-29-f47ae5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562603/original/file-20231130-29-f47ae5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562603/original/file-20231130-29-f47ae5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562603/original/file-20231130-29-f47ae5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">This forest near Gabon in the Congo Basin shows natural regeneration with a young tree growing to fill a gap left by logging.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Claudia Romero</span></span>
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<p>Forest industries need to recognise the benefits of investing in all aspects of forestry including the maintenance of productive timber stands. </p>
<p>Society also needs to support forestry by ensuring the supply of well-trained young foresters. Unfortunately, the common misconception of forest management as a synonym for forest degradation reduces the appeal of the profession to young environmentalists.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://doi.org/10.5849/jof.15-018">closure of so many undergraduate forestry degrees</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/f14081644">outside of Brazil</a>, coupled with increased focus on plantations rather than natural forests, makes it hard to find trained and motivated people to support the transition to responsible forest management. But it will be worth the effort, because responsible forest management promises financial, environmental and social benefits. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/giant-old-trees-are-still-being-logged-in-tasmanian-forests-we-must-find-ways-of-better-protecting-them-211670">Giant old trees are still being logged in Tasmanian forests. We must find ways of better protecting them</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216606/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Francis E Putz was funded to write this report by the US Agency for International Development and the US Forest Service International Program.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claudia Romero received funding from the United States Agency for International Development and the United States Forest Service International Program to complete this report. </span></em></p>We argue for an orderly transition from ‘timber mining’ to managed forestry in the tropics. Here’s a five-step plan to improve forest fates, with benefits for the climate, biodiversity and people.Francis E Putz, Research Professor, University of the Sunshine CoastClaudia Romero, University of the Sunshine CoastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2159882023-10-29T19:11:58Z2023-10-29T19:11:58ZWe must assess ‘cumulative impacts’ to protect nature from death by a thousand cuts<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556264/original/file-20231027-19-kul9qc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=165%2C134%2C4332%2C2659&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/red-sand-dunes-ghost-gums-west-1676734210">Cam Laird/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia’s national environment protection law ignores the big picture. Like a racehorse wearing blinkers, decision-makers focus on a single project in isolation. If they dropped the blinkers and considered the combined effects of multiple projects, they might shy away from allowing so many harmful impacts. </p>
<p>Urgent reform is needed because nature is suffering death by a thousand cuts. We have <a href="https://www.anao.gov.au/work/performance-audit/management-threatened-species-and-ecological-communities-under-the-epbc-act#:%7E:text=As%20of%20February%202022%2C%20there,1595%20items%20of%20conservation%20advice.">more than 2,000</a> threatened species and ecological communities – groups of plants and animals that live together and interact, such as Western Australia’s iconic Banksia woodlands. That number is likely to grow, as hundreds more <a href="https://theconversation.com/its-not-just-victorias-iconic-mountain-ash-trees-at-risk-its-every-species-in-their-community-214582">await assessment for listing</a>. </p>
<p>Today, the <a href="https://wentworthgroup.org/">Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists</a>, which includes one of the authors of this article, is releasing a <a href="https://wentworthgroup.org/2023/10/preventing-death-by-a-thousand-cuts/">report outlining the practical steps needed to fix the law</a>. It draws on both international and Australian experience to recommend pragmatic solutions that also minimise the administrative burden for landholders.</p>
<p>The report finds <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-beat-rollout-rage-the-environment-versus-climate-battle-dividing-regional-australia-213863">regional planning can help</a>. But rolling out regional planning won’t happen fast, nor will it alone fix this problem. Addressing cumulative impacts on already threatened biodiversity means every impact must be counted, and countered.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-should-use-australias-environment-laws-to-protect-our-living-wonders-from-new-coal-and-gas-projects-214211">We should use Australia's environment laws to protect our 'living wonders' from new coal and gas projects</a>
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<h2>Our national environmental laws are lagging</h2>
<p>“Cumulative impacts” arise when multiple actions or environmental conditions together cause greater overall impact than threats considered in isolation. </p>
<p>When it comes to regulating the cumulative environmental impacts of new developments, <a href="https://www.unswlawjournal.unsw.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/2-Nelson.pdf">our national environmental law is lagging</a>. </p>
<p>Around the world, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/transnational-environmental-law/article/latent-potential-of-cumulative-effects-concepts-in-national-and-international-environmental-impact-assessment-regimes/2219738FCAA04243F83CAFEE02DB4610#fig01">almost two-thirds of national environmental laws</a> require a decision-maker to consider cumulative impacts. This includes laws in high-income economies in Europe and North America, as well as our Asia-Pacific neighbours such as Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Indonesia and the Solomon Islands. First Nations peoples often lead the charge for <a href="https://www.icce-caec.ca/about-icce/">more focus on cumulative impacts</a>. </p>
<p>Recent legal reforms in some Australian states, such as <a href="https://www.allens.com.au/insights-news/insights/2020/04/10-key-things-about-proposed-changes-to-the-wa-epa/#anchor3">Western Australia</a>, <a href="https://law.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/4772747/03-Lindsay,-Marsh-and-Nelson-422.pdf">Victoria</a> and the <a href="https://www.edo.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Environmental-impact-assessment-under-the-EP-Act-2019.pdf">Northern Territory</a>, and <a href="https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-03/cumulative-impact-assessment-guidelines-for-ssp.pdf">policy advances in New South Wales</a>, do the same. But they are not set up to protect matters of national environmental significance. That’s a job for national law. </p>
<p>Tasmanian environmentalists sought to fix this major flaw in a legal challenge that ended in the Full Federal Court in 2015. They argued that, in approving a haematite mine that would harm the habitat of vulnerable Tasmanian devils, the federal environment minister had unlawfully failed to consider cumulative impacts. </p>
<p>But <a href="https://jade.io/article/398617">the challenge failed</a>. The court decided there was no requirement to consider cumulative impacts. The then environment minister Tony Burke could continue to ignore how serious the mine’s impacts really were for the devils when combined with other major projects such as logging and neighbouring mines.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556259/original/file-20231027-15-zt2j9s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A stout black animal with a white band across its chest and a pointy snout looks at the camera" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556259/original/file-20231027-15-zt2j9s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556259/original/file-20231027-15-zt2j9s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556259/original/file-20231027-15-zt2j9s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556259/original/file-20231027-15-zt2j9s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556259/original/file-20231027-15-zt2j9s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556259/original/file-20231027-15-zt2j9s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556259/original/file-20231027-15-zt2j9s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Tasmanian devil habitat is impacted by logging and mining.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/tasmanian-devil-australia-659406127">Oleksii G/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>Both big and small cuts matter</h2>
<p>Cumulative impacts are not just about major projects (such as mines) that already reach decision-makers’ desks, but also small projects that are rarely scrutinised. </p>
<p>Notably, <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/epbc/publications/review-interactions-epbc-act-agriculture-final-report">very few agricultural developments</a> seek approval. Yet for koalas, which are endangered, the cumulative effects of many land–clearing operations – <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/species/pubs/85104-conservation-advice-12022022.pdf">mostly for grazing</a> – is a major ongoing threat, <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/recovery-plan-koala-2022.pdf">compounded further by disease and climate change</a>. </p>
<p>The federal environment department’s <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/biodiversity/threatened/publications/referral-guidelines-endangered-koala#:%7E:text=This%20guidance%20has%20been%20developed%20to%20support%20proponents%2C,Protection%20and%20Biodiversity%20Conservation%20Act%201999%20%28EPBC%20Act%29.">own advice</a> is “even small areas of habitat loss (as little as 1 hectare) can have a significant impact” on koalas. But more than a million hectares of potential koala habitat have disappeared since the law came into force in 2000 - most with no consideration under environment law. <a href="https://www.wilderness.org.au/protecting-nature/watch-on-nature#:%7E:text=In%20November%20last%20year%2C%20Watch%20on%20Nature%20users%20identified%20broadscale%20deforestation%20of%20likely%20koala%20habitat%20taking%20place%20in%20Far%20North%20Queensland.">Most land clearing continues</a> unscrutinised. </p>
<p>Without attention to cumulative impacts, policy commitments to “<a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/environmental-markets/nature-repair-market">repair nature</a>” or be “<a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/epbc/publications/nature-positive-plan">nature positive</a>” can’t work. It’s like trying to fill a bucket while gaping holes at the bottom are draining it.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556260/original/file-20231027-22-qzcvvj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A grey animal asleep high up on a eucalyptus tree" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556260/original/file-20231027-22-qzcvvj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556260/original/file-20231027-22-qzcvvj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556260/original/file-20231027-22-qzcvvj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556260/original/file-20231027-22-qzcvvj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556260/original/file-20231027-22-qzcvvj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556260/original/file-20231027-22-qzcvvj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556260/original/file-20231027-22-qzcvvj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Koalas are threatened by agricultural land clearing, disease and the effects of climate change.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/australian-koala-asleep-on-branch-gum-1800418618">Jackson Stock Photography/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/land-clearing-and-fracking-in-australias-northern-territory-threatens-the-worlds-largest-intact-tropical-savanna-208028">Land clearing and fracking in Australia's Northern Territory threatens the world's largest intact tropical savanna</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>In a crisis, change is possible</h2>
<p>In some cases, public pressure and ecological catastrophe have forced national action on cumulative impacts. </p>
<p>In response to international concern for the Great Barrier Reef, a <a href="https://elibrary.gbrmpa.gov.au/jspui/bitstream/11017/3389/9/Reef-2050-cumulative-impact-mngt-policy.pdf">cumulative impact policy</a> was introduced - but it only relates to the reef. </p>
<p>Public protests and inquiries drove Commonwealth <a href="https://rebeccanelsonorg.files.wordpress.com/2021/01/nelson_bigtime_authorversion.pdf">regulation of the impact of coal seam gas and coal mining projects on water</a>. This is currently the only “matter of national environmental significance” that requires cumulative impact assessment. </p>
<p>And the Commonwealth <a href="https://www.unswlawjournal.unsw.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/2-Nelson.pdf">capped cumulative withdrawals of water</a> in the Murray-Darling Basin during the Millennium Drought. For the first time across the basin, total withdrawals could not exceed an “environmentally sustainable level”. Implementation <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-08/rivers-missing-environment-flows-in-murray-darling-basin-plan/102805636">is not easy</a>, but at least there’s now a crucial legal safeguard in place. </p>
<p>Overall, though, our current law is failing. The <a href="https://epbcactreview.environment.gov.au/resources/final-report">2020 statutory review</a> of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act confirmed “cumulative impacts on the environment <a href="https://epbcactreview.environment.gov.au/resources/final-report/executive-summary">are not systematically considered</a>” and that this contributes to environmental decline.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/get-the-basics-right-for-national-environmental-standards-to-ensure-truly-sustainable-development-201092">Get the basics right for National Environmental Standards to ensure truly sustainable development</a>
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<h2>What’s holding us back?</h2>
<p>Assessing cumulative impacts can be complex, so some developers and politicians will resist. But other developers will welcome better environmental performance. They know cumulative impacts can threaten an industry’s social licence to operate. </p>
<p>Globally, diverse industry sectors support considering cumulative impacts, from <a href="https://tethys.pnnl.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Cumulative-Impact-Assessment-Guidelines.pdf">offshore wind farms in the United Kingdom</a>, to the <a href="https://wsdot.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2021-10/ENV-NSEPA_AASHTOCummHndbk.pdf">transport sector in the United States</a> and the <a href="https://minerals.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Cumulative_Environmental_Impact_Assessment_Industry_Guide_FINAL_0.pdf">mining industry in Australia</a>.</p>
<p>Dealing with cumulative impacts will also mean scrutinising types and sizes of impacts that currently fly under the national radar, but seriously impact nationally important environments.</p>
<p>That means cooperating with states and territories to avoid duplication of assessment and creating innovative approaches – beyond simple regulatory “sticks” – for small but cumulatively significant impacts.</p>
<h2>Now is the time</h2>
<p>Once-in-a-decade reforms to our national environmental law present an opportunity to protect nationally important species and places from cumulative impacts. </p>
<p>We know the Commonwealth can regulate cumulative impacts when the pressure is on. Now is the time for the Commonwealth to step up and join Australia’s states – and most of the world’s nations – in taking the legal blinkers off decision-makers assessing developments under our national law. Nature depends on it.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The authors acknowledge the contributions of Debbie Medaris, Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, and expert attendees of a workshop on cumulative impacts held by the Wentworth group, which have informed this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215988/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Louise Nelson receives funding from Watertrust Australia, and has previously received funding from the Australian Research Council and the National Native Title Council. She is a member of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority's Social and Economic Advisory Group, and has been a member of its Advisory Committee on Social, Economic and Environmental Sciences. She is a director of the Board of Bush Heritage Australia. The views expressed in this Editorial are her own.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martine Maron is a member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists and co-authored the report mentioned in this article. She has received funding from various sources including the Australian Research Council, the Queensland Department of Environment and Science, and the Australian Government's National Environmental Science Program, and has advised both state and federal government on conservation policy. She is a director of BirdLife Australia and the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, a councillor with the Biodiversity Council, a governor of WWF-Australia, and leads the IUCN's thematic group on Impact Mitigation and Ecological Compensation under the Commission on Ecosystem Management.</span></em></p>Australia has a once-in-a-decade opportunity to fix environmental law. A new Wentworth Group report says the cumulative impacts from multiple projects must be considered.Rebecca Louise Nelson, Associate Professor in Law, The University of MelbourneMartine Maron, Professor of Environmental Management, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2145822023-10-05T19:03:13Z2023-10-05T19:03:13ZIt’s not just Victoria’s iconic mountain ash trees at risk – it’s every species in their community<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552409/original/file-20231005-17-r8pz6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1742%2C1167&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chris Taylor/Author provided</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When we think of extinction, we think of individual species. But nature doesn’t operate like that. Entire communities and even whole ecosystems are now so compromised they could be lost entirely. Australia now has about <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/biodiversity/threatened/communities">100 ecological communities at risk</a>. </p>
<p>One of those is the iconic Mountain Ash (<em>Eucalyptus regnans</em>) community in Victoria’s Central Highlands. Many of us know and love these regal trees, the tallest flowering plant in the world. But decades of logging, repeated wildfires, and fragmentation of these forests means they and the species which rely on them like Leadbeater’s possum and gliders now face existential threats. </p>
<p>In our <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/PC/PC23010">new research</a>, we point to the need to list the entire community as threatened. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/after-the-chainsaws-the-quiet-victorias-rapid-exit-from-native-forest-logging-is-welcome-and-long-overdue-206181">After the chainsaws, the quiet: Victoria's rapid exit from native forest logging is welcome – and long overdue</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>How can ecological communities go extinct?</h2>
<p>Australia is an enormous contributor to global biodiversity loss. A recent study found 97 species in Australia have now gone extinct since British colonisation in 1788, with roughly <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adg7870">10% of all native mammal species</a> gone forever. The numbers would be higher if invertebrate losses were included. </p>
<p>Worldwide, roughly a million species are <a href="https://www.ipbes.net/news/how-did-ipbes-estimate-1-million-species-risk-extinction-globalassessment-report">now at risk of extinction</a>. Looming loss at this scale threatens entire ecological communities – or even whole ecosystems. </p>
<p>Under Australia’s biodiversity laws, ecological communities can be listed as threatened, endangered or critically endangered. About 100 ecological communities – defined as assemblages of species in a particular habitat – are <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publiclookupcommunities.pl">currently at risk</a>. But even this figure is likely to be a massive underestimate. </p>
<p>Many ecological communities are not on this list even though they probably should be. The reason for that is a lack of good data. </p>
<p>To find out whether a community is threatened requires a thorough assessment of many species and key ecological processes using high-quality long-term data. </p>
<p>These kinds of data aren’t available for many communities. But we have 40 years of detailed data for the Central Highlands Mountain Ash forests. So to find out whether they are truly threatened, we undertook a <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/PC/PC23010">detailed assessment</a>. </p>
<h2>Why are these forests at risk of collapse?</h2>
<p>These forests cover 140,000 hectares near Victorian towns like Marysville, Warburton and Healesville. They’re rich in biodiversity, including several threatened mammals and plants. </p>
<p>We focused on the Central Highlands because this area is home to the largest remaining forests of Mountain Ash – 44% of all remaining forest. </p>
<p>Much elsewhere has been lost. In South Gippsland, plantations, dairy and potato farms have replaced Mountain Ash forests, with only small fragments left.</p>
<p>Tasmania’s Mountain Ash forests are important, albeit less extensive than those in Victoria’s Central Highlands. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552241/original/file-20231005-26-k8cc7y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C2%2C537%2C351&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="mountain ash forest" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552241/original/file-20231005-26-k8cc7y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C2%2C537%2C351&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552241/original/file-20231005-26-k8cc7y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552241/original/file-20231005-26-k8cc7y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552241/original/file-20231005-26-k8cc7y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552241/original/file-20231005-26-k8cc7y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552241/original/file-20231005-26-k8cc7y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552241/original/file-20231005-26-k8cc7y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This is what mountain ash forests should look like – old growth trees stretching to the sky.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Esther Beaton/Author provided</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our conclusion? Sadly, the Central Highlands Mountain Ash community is now eligible for listing as either endangered or critically endangered. </p>
<p>These forests are now largely regrowth. Many have been fragmented, making it harder for wildlife to cross between patches. Biodiversity is still declining, including threatened species, while changing fire regimes are placing intensive pressure on the remaining forests. </p>
<p>What happened here? These forests have been subject to decades of intensive clearfell logging, as well extensive cutting dating back to the late 1920s. </p>
<p>These pressures have made old growth a vanishing rarity, accounting for just over 1% of the remaining 137,000 hectares of Mountain Ash forest in the Central Highlands. The rest of the forest is often highly degraded. </p>
<p>The loss of almost all old growth has been devastating for species like Leadbeater’s possum, the southern greater glider and the yellow-bellied glider over the past 25 years. These animals must have nesting hollows to survive, and these only form when large old trees lose limbs - a process that can take well over 100 years. </p>
<p>And because the Mountain Ash community is dominated by younger trees, it is now at risk of reburning. Younger trees are highly fire-prone – even those regenerating from the Black Saturday fires of 2009. This has left the entire ecological community vulnerable to future fires. </p>
<p>Our analysis found nearly 70% of these forest communities are already either severely disturbed by fire and logging or exist within 70 metres of severely disturbed areas. </p>
<h2>What would happen if Mountain Ash communities collapse?</h2>
<p>These pressures have pushed these forests to the edge. They could readily collapse and be replaced by an entirely different community, dominated by wattles and prone to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2022.120673">more fire, more often</a>.</p>
<p>The collapse of the Mountain Ash community would have catastrophic implications for the five million people who live in Melbourne. The city’s famously good drinking water relies <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/book/7111/">almost entirely on run-off</a> from Mountain Ash forest to the east. </p>
<p>You might wonder – won’t the ending of industrial logging in January help? It might – if we undertake a massive restoration effort. Many tracts of forest are simply not regenerating after logging – <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-30/vicforests-accused-of-failing-to-regenerate-logged-forests/100652148">up to 30%</a>. </p>
<p>Restoring tree cover, species diversity and making the ecosystem functional again will take a great deal of work. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552242/original/file-20231005-21-b83srk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="mountain ash forest failing to regenerate" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552242/original/file-20231005-21-b83srk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552242/original/file-20231005-21-b83srk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552242/original/file-20231005-21-b83srk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552242/original/file-20231005-21-b83srk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552242/original/file-20231005-21-b83srk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552242/original/file-20231005-21-b83srk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552242/original/file-20231005-21-b83srk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nature will bounce back, won’t it? Not always, as the failure of mountain ash to regenerate after logging or fire demonstrates.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chris Taylor/Lachlan McBurney</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What can we do?</h2>
<p>The case is compelling for listing Victoria’s Mountain Ash community as threatened. </p>
<p>Huge efforts will be required to stop the populations of animals such as the southern greater glider <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/acv.12634">from plunging</a>. Recently, we have been testing new nesting box designs to help populations recover. These boxes are meant to be a stop-gap substitute as nesting hollows to replace natural cavities. </p>
<p>We’ll also have to do our best to keep out high-intensity wildfire from as many areas of Mountain Ash forest as possible, so the young trees have a chance to mature and develop hollows. </p>
<p>This kind of restoration is compatible with efforts by conservationists to declare a Great Forest National Park to protect Mountain Ash communities. </p>
<p>It’s well established that protecting areas does work. For example, an <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.38.091206.095737">estimated 25% of the world’s bird species</a> are alive today because they have been protected in reserves. </p>
<p>Listing an ecological community as threatened isn’t a one-way street to extinction. We can – and have – reversed the damage for other communities and species. We need do it for Mountain Ash forests, and it must be done now. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-cant-just-walk-away-after-the-logging-stops-in-victorias-native-forests-heres-what-must-happen-next-206596">We can't just walk away after the logging stops in Victoria's native forests. Here's what must happen next</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214582/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Lindenmayer receives funding from the Australian Government, and the Victorian Government. He is a Councillor with the Biodiversity Council and is a member of Birds Australia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elle Bowd has received funding from the Paddy Pallin Foundation, Centre of Biodiversity Analysis, the Ecological Society of Australia, New South Wales government and the Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment fund. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kita Ashman works for WWF Australia and is an Ambassador for Paddy Pallin.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Taylor does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Victoria’s iconic mountain ash forests are reeling from decades of logging and fire. They’re not recovering on their own.David Lindenmayer, Professor, The Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National UniversityChris Taylor, Research Fellow, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National UniversityElle Bowd, Research fellow, Australian National UniversityKita Ashman, Adjunct research associate, Charles Sturt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2148412023-10-04T19:05:35Z2023-10-04T19:05:35ZIt wasn’t just a tree: why it feels so bad to lose the iconic Sycamore Gap tree and others like it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551951/original/file-20231004-21-7gzi3v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=60%2C50%2C6649%2C4416&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The famous <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/02/what-may-happen-next-at-sycamore-gap-tree-felling-site-age-of-extinction">Sycamore Gap tree</a> was felled last week, prompting global expressions of sorrow, anger and horror. For some, the reaction was puzzling. Wasn’t it just a single tree in northern England? But for many, the tree felt profoundly important. Its loss felt like a form of grief. </p>
<p>Trees tell us something important about ourselves and who we are in the world. That is, they contribute to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23251042.2020.1717098">ontological security</a> – our sense of trust that the world and our selves are stable and predictable. </p>
<p>Trees – especially those celebrated like England’s sycamore or Tasmania’s 350-year-old El Grande mountain ash – feel like they are stable and unchanging in a world where change is constant. Their loss can destabilise us.</p>
<h2>What makes a tree iconic?</h2>
<p>Individual trees can become important to us for many reasons. </p>
<p>When the wandering ascetic Siddhartha Gautama sat at the foot of a sacred fig around 500 BCE, he achieved the enlightenment which would, a few centuries later, lead to his fame as the Buddha. This sacred fig would become known as the Bodhi Tree. One of its descendants <a href="https://www.britannica.com/plant/Bo-tree">attracts millions</a> of pilgrims every year. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551959/original/file-20231004-21-nczbea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Mahabodhi Temple sacred fig" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551959/original/file-20231004-21-nczbea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551959/original/file-20231004-21-nczbea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551959/original/file-20231004-21-nczbea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551959/original/file-20231004-21-nczbea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551959/original/file-20231004-21-nczbea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551959/original/file-20231004-21-nczbea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551959/original/file-20231004-21-nczbea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This sacred fig in India’s Mahabodhi Temple is believed to be the descendant of the fig the Buddha sat beneath.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/100337066@N03/27401693603/in/photolist-HKoQRa-9xtcbC-JwAtd5-JwAtLj-HKpA3G-9xsUzW-26gxvc2-22D9Yfs-21m7hKH-f3FPik-caxUFA-ehkAAm-ehkAbJ-ehkAc9-eheRzM-22DaBcd-21B3gzy-a7B5fQ-22D9WeJ-21B3jXq-EykRo3-22D9Z6W-21m7TsZ-22Da14s-21B3jG5-y9ZspU-21m7jP2-22FwRpX-ddLRvr-EymA6Y-EykRrQ-dcErbs-21B3XQd-HJQTHn-EykRYb-21m7Hwr-EymrvG-HJQD7Z-D3nbw8-21m7hrg-HJQU3a-21B3iVf-9XHn3U-QGs7cC-qeSX2a-2cWRTbN-9g1MB-aex1gU-7YjZWJ-9g27a">Globe Trotting/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sometimes a tree becomes iconic because of its association with pop culture. U2’s hit 1987 album <em>The Joshua Tree</em> has inspired fans to seek out the tree on the cover in the United States’ arid southwest – <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/u2s-the-joshua-tree-10-things-you-didnt-know-106885/">a potentially dangerous trip</a>. </p>
<p>Other trees become famous because they’re exceptional in some way. The location of the world’s tallest tree – a 115-metre high redwood known as Hyperion – is <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-worlds-tallest-tree-is-officially-off-limits-180980509/">kept secret for its protection</a>. </p>
<p>Niger’s Tree of Ténéré was known as the world’s most isolated, eking out an existence in the Sahara before the lonely acacia was accidentally knocked down by a truck driver in 1973. Its site is <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/last-tree-tenere">marked by a sculpture</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551949/original/file-20231004-25-l84ojx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551949/original/file-20231004-25-l84ojx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551949/original/file-20231004-25-l84ojx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551949/original/file-20231004-25-l84ojx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551949/original/file-20231004-25-l84ojx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551949/original/file-20231004-25-l84ojx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=571&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551949/original/file-20231004-25-l84ojx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=571&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551949/original/file-20231004-25-l84ojx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=571&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Tree of Tenere in 1961, before it was knocked over.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4240288">Michel Mazeau/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>In 2003, the mountain ash known as El Grande – then the world’s largest flowering plant – was accidentally killed in a burn conducted by Forestry Tasmania. The death of the enormous tree – 87 metres tall, with a 19 metre girth – drew <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/3945157">“national and international”</a> media attention. </p>
<p>This year, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-14/vandalism-sacred-birthing-tree-buangor-police-investigate/102726014">vandals damaged</a> a birthing tree sacred to the local Djab Wurrung people amidst conflicts about proposed road works in western Victoria. </p>
<p>And in 2006, someone poisoned Queensland’s Tree of Knowledge – a 200-year-old ghost gum <a href="https://www.australiantraveller.com/qld/outback-qld/longreach/tree-of-knowledge-is-dead/">famous for its connection</a> to the birth of trade unionism in Australia. Under its limbs, shearers organised and marched for better conditions. The dead tree has been preserved in a memorial. </p>
<h2>What is it to lose a tree?</h2>
<p>Sociologist Anthony Giddens defines ontological security as a <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Modernity_and_Self_Identity.html?id=Jujn_YrD6DsC&redir_esc=y">“sense of continuity and order in events”</a>. </p>
<p>To sustain it, we seek out feelings of safety, trust, and reassurance by engaging with comfortable and familiar objects, beings and people around us – especially those important to our self-identity. </p>
<p>When there is an abrupt change, it challenges us. If your favourite tree in your street or garden dies, you mourn it – and what it gave you. But we mourn at a distance too – the Sycamore Gap tree was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/gallery/2023/sep/28/hadrians-wall-sycamore-gap-tree-in-pictures">world-famous</a>, even if you never saw it in real life. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://figshare.utas.edu.au/articles/thesis/Seeing_the_forest_for_the_trees_ontological_security_and_experiences_of_Tasmanian_forests/23238422">my research</a>, I have explored how Tasmanian forests – including iconic landscapes and individual trees – can give us that sense of security we all seek in ourselves. </p>
<p>As one interviewee, Leon, told me: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>These places should be left alone, because in 10,000 years they could still be there. Obviously I won’t be, we won’t be, but perhaps [the forest will be].</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Temporality matters here. That is, we know what to expect by looking to the past and imagining what the future could be. Trees – especially ancient ones – act as a living link between the past, present, and future. </p>
<p>As my interviewee Catherine said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>You lie under an old myrtle and you just go, ‘wow - so what have you seen in your lifetime?’ Shitloads more than me.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>That’s why the loss of the Sycamore Gap tree has upset seemingly the entire United Kingdom. The tree was famous for its appearance: a solitary tree in a <a href="https://www.northumberlandnationalpark.org.uk/places-to-visit/hadrians-wall/sycamore-gap/">photogenic dip</a> in the landscape. </p>
<p>Its loss means a different future for those who knew it. It’s as if you were reading a book you know – but someone changed the ending. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sycamore-gap-what-the-long-life-of-a-single-tree-can-tell-us-about-centuries-of-change-214750">Sycamore Gap: what the long life of a single tree can tell us about centuries of change</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Loss of connection</h2>
<p>We respond very differently when humans do the damage compared to natural processes. In one study, UK homeowners found it <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13698570802381162">harder to accept</a> their house being burgled than for it to be flooded, seeing flooding as more natural and thus less of a blow to their sense of security. </p>
<p>This is partly why the sycamore’s death hurt. It didn’t fall in a storm. It was cut down deliberately – something that wasn’t supposed to happen.</p>
<p>The sycamore was just a tree. But it was also not just a tree – it was far more, for many of us. It’s more than okay to talk about what this does to us – about how the loss of this thread of connection makes us grieve. </p>
<p>Yes, we have lost the Sycamore Gap tree, just as we lost El Grande and many others. It is useful to talk about this - and to remember the many other beautiful and important trees that live on. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/photos-from-the-field-capturing-the-grandeur-and-heartbreak-of-tasmanias-giant-trees-144743">Photos from the field: capturing the grandeur and heartbreak of Tasmania's giant trees</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214841/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Banham received funding from an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship, which funded the research associated with this article. </span></em></p>One night, someone cut down a tree. It wasn’t just any tree. The loss of the Sycamore Gap tree sent a nation into grief. But why?Rebecca Banham, Postdoctoral fellow, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2072842023-08-28T12:03:27Z2023-08-28T12:03:27ZWhat social change movements can learn from fly fishing: The value of a care-focused message<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544486/original/file-20230824-17-xz9a9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2811%2C1863&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fly-fishing in Alaska's Tongass National Forest.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/fB1dRF">Joseph/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Summer and fall are prime times for getting outdoors across the U.S. According to an annual survey produced by the outdoor industry, 55% of Americans age 6 and up participated in <a href="https://outdoorindustry.org/resource/2023-outdoor-participation-trends-report/">some kind of outdoor recreation</a> in 2022, and that number is on the rise. </p>
<p>However, the activities they choose are shifting. Over the past century, participation has declined in some activities, <a href="https://theconversation.com/fewer-americans-are-hunting-and-that-raises-hard-questions-about-funding-conservation-through-gun-sales-176220">such as hunting</a>, and increased in others, <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/could-a-boom-in-us-birding-help-fund-conservation">like bird-watching</a>. </p>
<p>These shifts reflect many factors, including demographic trends and urbanization. But outdoor activities also have their own cultures, which can powerfully affect how participants think about nature. </p>
<p>As scholars who think about <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=u6FOkIQAAAAJ&hl=en">organizational theory</a>, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=F1RxMTcAAAAJ&hl=en">management</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=hkKa8JcAAAAJ&hl=en">entrepreneurship</a>, we are interested in understanding effective ways to promote social change. In a recent study, we analyzed the work of the nonprofit group <a href="https://www.tu.org/">Trout Unlimited</a>, which centers on protecting rivers and streams across the U.S. that harbor wild and native trout and salmon. </p>
<p>We found that since its founding in 1959, Trout Unlimited has pursued a unique type of social change. Historically, people fished to obtain food – but Trout Unlimited has reframed the sport as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/01708406231159490">a vehicle for environmental conservation</a>. It did this by gradually shifting members from catch and keep practices to catch and release, with fish carefully returned to the water. In our view, this strategy offers a powerful example of energizing social change through care, rather than disruptive strategies that emphasize power, anger and fearmongering.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">John McMillan, science director for Trout Unlimited’s Wild Steelhead Initiative, walks through the proper technique to catch and release a type of coastal rainbow trout called steelhead.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>A sport that inspires devotion</h2>
<p>Fishing is very popular in the U.S.: As of 2016, <a href="https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2018/demo/fhw16-nat.pdf">more then 35 million Americans fished</a>, mainly in fresh water. Trout Unlimited was <a href="https://www.tu.org/about/#:%7E:text=Founded%20in%20Michigan%20in%201959,coldwater%20fisheries%20and%20their%20watersheds.">founded in 1959</a> on the banks of Michigan’s Au Sable River with the aim of building a strong conservation ethic among anglers. Today, the group has more than 300,000 members spanning hundreds of local chapters across the U.S. </p>
<p>Many Trout Unlimited members prefer fly fishing, a technique that uses a rod, reel, specialized weighted fishing line and artificial flies designed to mimic trout’s natural food sources. Trout generally thrive in beautiful, fast-flowing, cold-water streams and rivers; to catch them, fly fishers repeatedly cast a line so that their lure moves like a flying insect landing and floating on the water. It’s a sport that combines deep knowledge of a specific location with time-honored techniques.</p>
<p>In the 1653 classic “<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/683">The Compleat Angler</a>,” English writer Izaak Walton called fly fishing “an art worthy the knowledge and practice of a wise man.” Norman Maclean’s 1976 book “<a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/R/bo3643831.html">A River Runs Through It</a>,” which recounts the author’s childhood experiences fishing Montana’s Big Blackfoot River, declares, “In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing.” Changing the practices of devoted anglers is no small feat. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CwRq_pAt9je/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\u0026igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<h2>Fly-fishing and stewardship</h2>
<p>The first stage of change that Trout Unlimited pursued in its interactions with members was what we call mending – fixing aspects of a practice that are seen as problematic or damaging. For Trout Unlimited, that meant subtly removing harvesting practice from images of fly fishing, while simultaneously reinforcing anglers’ deep connections to rivers. </p>
<p>This reframing began in the late 1960s and continues today, as we learned by analyzing cover images and editorials from “Trout,” the organization’s member magazine, and interviewing staffers at Trout Unlimited and others throughout the fly fishing industry. Editors of “Trout” scrubbed away images of harvesting gear, such as <a href="https://www.montanaoutdoor.com/2020/03/creels/">creels</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrp-r1iavHY">stringers</a> and spears. Instead, they featured photos of trout being safely released and of caught fish remaining underwater in their environment. </p>
<p>These changes did not directly speak to or challenge anglers’ practices. Instead, they worked more subtly. “Trout” editors also began to describe old harvesting artifacts like creels as “something of a curio” and “relics of the past.” </p>
<p>In another editorial shift, the magazine increasingly featured images of vast river landscapes rather than close-up photos of people fishing. This approach elevated the experience of being in nature above that of catching fish. </p>
<p>Editors included poetry and sermonettes in the magazine that modeled normative values of conservation and catch and release practices. Here’s one example: </p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>Carefully I reach out, and lift him in my net,</em></p>
<p><em>But I make sure not to touch him, until my hands are wet.</em></p>
<p><em>For not doing so would damage him, and that would not be right,</em></p>
<p><em>For this indeed I owe him, for such a noble fight.</em></p>
<p><em>As gently as I can, I remove the hook and set him free …</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Using words and images, the magazine sought to trigger positive emotions and a sense of deep connection and love for trout. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CSouKfBB_IY/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\u0026igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<h2>Caring for fishing grounds</h2>
<p>As Trout Unlimited built momentum in the 1960s and ’70s, the organization made river and stream restoration a major priority. This period marked the birth of the modern environmental movement. Americans were recognizing that industrial development was harming precious natural resources, including fishing grounds. </p>
<p>Logging had <a href="https://www.nwcouncil.org/reports/columbia-river-history/logging/">ravaged wetlands and stream banks</a> along river corridors. Dam construction, particularly in Western states, was <a href="https://theconversation.com/removing-dams-from-the-klamath-river-is-a-step-toward-justice-for-native-americans-in-northern-california-196472">blocking fish passage</a>, preventing trout and salmon from swimming upstream to their spawning grounds. Acid drainage from mining operations was <a href="https://www.tu.org/conservation/conservation-areas/watershed-restoration/abandoned-mine-reclamation/">contaminating waterways</a>. And recreational and commercial fishers were over-harvesting many important species.</p>
<p>Trout Unlimited chapters organized events that ranged from local river cleanups to advocating for federal Wild and Scenic designation for free-flowing rivers and streams. This status <a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/wild-scenic-rivers#">protects them from overuse and in-stream development</a>, such as dams and irrigation diversions.</p>
<p>Members also campaigned for dam removal to open up fish spawning habitat and for creating “<a href="https://riverreporter.com/stories/special-trout-fishing-regulations,43375">no-kill” zones</a> along stretches of rivers, where catch and release was required. Trout Unlimited framed these efforts as supporting fly fishing through positive change. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1669845059661881344"}"></div></p>
<h2>An inclusive message</h2>
<p>Today, Trout Unlimited <a href="https://www.tu.org/conservation/">centers conservation in its mission</a> of protecting, reconnecting, restoring and sustaining coldwater fisheries. We see the organization as an important model in a world driven by social media algorithms that <a href="https://theconversation.com/hate-cancel-culture-blame-algorithms-129402">amplify negative emotions</a>. In our view, driving change through actions that represent love and care, rather than <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2022.2143315">anger and shame</a>, could engage more people in tackling major social challenges.</p>
<p>This approach does have limitations. It is useful when a practice can be altered to be more sustainable, as was the case with catch and release. However, as recent research shows, <a href="https://therevelator.org/recreational-fishing-environmental-impact/">recreational fishing still has major environmental impacts</a>, especially on marine species. And sometimes social change requires ending widespread practices altogether. Nonetheless, the key takeaway for us from Trout Unlimited’s work is that social change doesn’t have to vilify in order to succeed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207284/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Founded in 1959, the membership group Trout Unlimited has changed the culture of fly-fishing and mobilized members to support conservation. Could its approach work for other social problems?Brett Crawford, Associate Professor of Management, Grand Valley State University Erica Coslor, Senior Lecturer in Management, The University of MelbourneMadeline Toubiana, Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Organization, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of OttawaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2120142023-08-24T02:03:32Z2023-08-24T02:03:32ZLeakage or spillover? Conservation parks boost biodiversity outside them – but there’s a catch, new study shows<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544193/original/file-20230823-23-fvjmxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=146%2C0%2C1514%2C1005&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Southern Red Muntjac deer peering at a camera trap.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Authors</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s easy to assume protected areas such as national parks conserve wildlife – that seems obvious. But what is the proof? And how does park success vary across different ecosystems – in deserts versus tropical rainforests, or wetlands versus oceans? </p>
<p>While we can use satellite imagery to measure the effect of protected areas in reducing human impacts such as logging, you can’t see the animals from space. In particularly dense tropical rainforests, it was nearly impossible to accurately monitor wildlife, until remotely triggered camera traps became available in the past decade.</p>
<p>There is a longstanding conservation debate on the benefits that protected areas such as national parks have for biodiversity. </p>
<p>Some scientists have argued that conservation success inside park boundaries may come at the expense of neighbouring unprotected habitats. Essentially, they suggest parks displace impacts such as hunting and logging to other nearby areas. The technical term for this is <a href="https://rest.neptune-prod.its.unimelb.edu.au/server/api/core/bitstreams/018f26e0-7629-51b3-8bf4-5b3b4323c91d/content">leakage</a>. </p>
<p>On the other hand, marine parks have often reported higher biodiversity nearby. Fish reproduce successfully inside park boundaries and their offspring disperse, benefiting surrounding habitats in a “<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1617138116300255">spillover</a>” effect. </p>
<p>We set out to see which of those effects actually prevails in protected land areas and their surrounds. Our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06410-z">new study</a>, published today in Nature, shows parks do enhance bird diversity inside their borders. Large parks also support higher diversity of both birds and mammals in nearby unprotected areas.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JQQ_5puMPy8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Rare rainforest species captured by camera traps used by the research team in protected areas across South-East Asia.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-new-major-players-in-conservation-ngos-thrive-while-national-parks-struggle-199880">The new major players in conservation? NGOs thrive while national parks struggle</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What did the study look at?</h2>
<p>We recruited an international team of scientists to conduct a comprehensive analysis of bird and mammal diversity inside and outside parks across South-East Asia. We used more than 2,000 cameras and bird surveys across the region.</p>
<p>South-East Asia is one of the <a href="https://www.wildcru.org/news/south-east-asias-hotspots-of-biodiversity/">most biodiverse regions</a> on Earth, but <a href="https://rdcu.be/dkacH">hunting is a key concern</a>. It’s a prime suspect for why diversity has often been assumed to decline outside protected park areas. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Three people attaching a camera trap to a tree" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544154/original/file-20230823-23-c916v8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544154/original/file-20230823-23-c916v8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544154/original/file-20230823-23-c916v8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544154/original/file-20230823-23-c916v8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544154/original/file-20230823-23-c916v8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544154/original/file-20230823-23-c916v8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544154/original/file-20230823-23-c916v8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Members of the research team set up a camera trap in Sumatra.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Authors</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544167/original/file-20230823-21-2hnt2u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Pheasant in a rainforest clearing" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544167/original/file-20230823-21-2hnt2u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544167/original/file-20230823-21-2hnt2u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544167/original/file-20230823-21-2hnt2u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544167/original/file-20230823-21-2hnt2u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544167/original/file-20230823-21-2hnt2u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544167/original/file-20230823-21-2hnt2u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544167/original/file-20230823-21-2hnt2u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Silver Pheasant eyes the camera.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Authors</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Hunters are mobile, so hunting bans within park boundaries may only displace these activities to nearby unprotected areas, undermining their net benefit. To be honest, we were surprised mammal diversity was higher outside large parks. It’s common to see hunters both inside and outside parks in many countries. </p>
<p>We expected hunters’ removal of game animals would reduce diversity outside parks. However, it appears large parks limit the impacts of hunting so it does not completely remove these animals. Specifically, when comparing unprotected areas near large reserves to unprotected areas that didn’t border large reserves, we found large reserves boosted mammal diversity in unprotected areas by up to 194%.</p>
<p>However, a sad note from our study was the finding that only larger parks significantly enhanced mammal diversity, casting doubt on the effectiveness of smaller parks for mammal conservation. Recent work in the region suggests many <a href="https://science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abq2307">large mammals persist in small parks</a>, but our study shows the presence of a few resilient animals in small parks doesn’t scale up to higher biodiversity overall.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A wild cat in a rainforest clearing" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544195/original/file-20230823-15-65e55z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544195/original/file-20230823-15-65e55z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544195/original/file-20230823-15-65e55z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544195/original/file-20230823-15-65e55z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544195/original/file-20230823-15-65e55z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544195/original/file-20230823-15-65e55z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544195/original/file-20230823-15-65e55z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Marbled Cat looks back at the camera.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Authors</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-protecting-land-for-wildlife-size-matters-heres-what-it-takes-to-conserve-very-large-areas-201848">In protecting land for wildlife, size matters – here's what it takes to conserve very large areas</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Not all parks are equal</h2>
<p>These findings are especially timely for the United Nations, which recently announced more ambitious biodiversity targets, including significant expansions of global protected areas. The <a href="https://www.unep.org/resources/kunming-montreal-global-biodiversity-framework">UN strategy</a> is to conserve 30% of Earth’s lands and waters by 2030 – the so-called “<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/global-environment-summit-idAFL8N32R3GW">30 by 30 goal</a>”. Massive expansions of the global area of protected land will be difficult and expensive, but our results support this approach.</p>
<p>The work provides a clear case for park design to consider size. Larger parks routinely had higher bird diversity. Large mammals such as tigers and elephants travel huge distances and don’t see park boundaries drawn on maps. Larger parks support these wide-ranging animals that move across entire landscapes.</p>
<p>Considering the UN’s goal of increasing protected area to 30% of the world’s surface, our findings support the creation of fewer larger parks, rather than many smaller ones. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Elephant's foot and trunk in a rainforest clearing" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544161/original/file-20230823-23-kgl0vl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544161/original/file-20230823-23-kgl0vl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544161/original/file-20230823-23-kgl0vl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544161/original/file-20230823-23-kgl0vl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544161/original/file-20230823-23-kgl0vl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544161/original/file-20230823-23-kgl0vl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544161/original/file-20230823-23-kgl0vl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Thai elephant captured by the camera trap moments before destroying it.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Authors</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/protecting-30-of-australias-land-and-sea-by-2030-sounds-great-but-its-not-what-it-seems-187435">Protecting 30% of Australia's land and sea by 2030 sounds great – but it's not what it seems</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Next steps in South-East Asia and Australia</h2>
<p>Our findings also provide a much-needed conservation “win” for South-East Asia. Despite being a biodiversity hotspot, the region suffers from <a href="https://earth.org/deforestation-in-southeast-asia/">high rates of forest loss</a> and hunting, which pose threats to birds and mammals.</p>
<p>Our team built a collaborative network and massive database to conduct the analysis, and this can also be used to answer other questions. Our next project will quantify shifts in abundance – the numbers of animals rather than numbers of species – inside and outside parks. We suspect parks will support increased mammal and bird abundances, even more than increased in wildlife diversity.</p>
<p>Based on the success of the Asian collaborative network project, a related team is now building a domestic collaborative network and database to conduct similar analyses, called <a href="https://www.ecologicalcascades.com/wildobs">Wildlife Observatory of Australia</a>. Key questions will include the impact of fire and climate change on Australia’s wildlife diversity and abundance.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212014/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The research discussed in this article was supported by the United Nations Development Programme, NASA grants NNL15AA03C and 80NSSC21K0189, the National Geographic Society’s Committee for the Research and Exploration award #9384–13, the Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award DECRA #DE210101440, the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia, Nanyang Technological University Singapore, the Darwin Initiative, Liebniz-IZW, and the Universities of Aberdeen, British Columbia, Montana and Queensland. Mammal data collection in one study area (out of 65) was funded by Sarawak Energy Berhad; no personnel from that agency participated in the data collection or analysis or reviewed the manuscript before it was submitted.</span></em></p>The UN ‘30 by 30’ biodiversity strategy aims to set aside 30% of land as protected areas. New research shows these areas do support biodiversity, but big parks also increase it outside their borders.Matthew Scott Luskin, Researcher and Lecturer in Conservation Science, The University of QueenslandJedediah Brodie, Research Fellow, Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak; Associate Professor and John Craighead Endowed Chair of Conservation, University of MontanaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2116832023-08-17T20:10:20Z2023-08-17T20:10:20ZYes, climate change is bringing bushfires more often. But some ecosystems in Australia are suffering the most<p>Black Summer, Black Saturday, Ash Wednesday: these and so many other bushfire disasters are regular reminders of the fact Australia is among the most flammable continents on Earth.</p>
<p>Alarmingly, climate change is <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-27225-4">making bushfires more frequent</a>. This is a huge concern, given the devastating effects of fire on both human communities, and the diversity of plants and animals.</p>
<p>As our <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.4610">new research</a> shows, however, the trend is not uniform. We examined the frequency of wildfires in parts of Victoria over the past 40 years. We found fire frequency is increasing in all ecosystems we studied, but to varying extents. In some places, fires are occurring so often, entire ecosystems are at risk of collapse. </p>
<p>These nuances are important. They point to the urgent need to tackle climate change. They also have major implications for biodiversity conservation, and bushfire management and prevention, and cast further questions over the controversial practice of native forest logging.</p>
<h2>Fires are becoming shockingly more frequent</h2>
<p>To understand the effects of wildfires, it’s not enough to focus on a single fire. We must examine successive fires in an area and how frequently they occur. </p>
<p>Our analysis focused on southeastern Australia – one of the most populated, heavily forested, and fire-prone parts of the continent. </p>
<p>Specifically, we homed in on six geographic areas in Victoria known as “bioregions”. Bioregions vary in their climatic conditions, geological features, biodiversity and other characteristics. The six areas together cover 4.64 million hectares – much of it forest.</p>
<p>We excluded deliberate burns such as hazard reduction (or prescribed) burns lit by fire authorities. We also excluded places that had been logged, because they’re known to be at a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-022-01717-y">high risk of severe fire</a> – and so including them would have skewed the results. </p>
<p>We found a major change in the frequency of wildfire over the past four decades. Between 2001 and 2020, there were substantially more fires in almost all bioregions than between 1981 and 2000.</p>
<p>In the earlier two decades, almost 667,000 hectares of forest burned. More than 36,000 hectares of this burned more than once. </p>
<p>In the latter two decades, 3.1 million hectares burned. About 1 million hectares burned more than once. </p>
<p>The change was most pronounced in the three bioregions at higher elevations - the Snowy Mountains, Victorian Alps, and South East Coastal Ranges (which lie southeast of the Snowy Mountains).</p>
<p>The least amount of change was found in Victoria’s East Gippsland Lowlands. This area had more fires in 1981-2000 than the other areas we studied, but only a modest increase in number of fires between 2000 and 2020. </p>
<p>Fascinatingly, however, the story doesn’t end there. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-is-sleepwalking-a-bushfire-scientist-explains-what-the-hawaii-tragedy-means-for-our-flammable-continent-211364">'Australia is sleepwalking': a bushfire scientist explains what the Hawaii tragedy means for our flammable continent</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="two maps showing fire frequency" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543172/original/file-20230817-29-bqh4fu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543172/original/file-20230817-29-bqh4fu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543172/original/file-20230817-29-bqh4fu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543172/original/file-20230817-29-bqh4fu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543172/original/file-20230817-29-bqh4fu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1062&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543172/original/file-20230817-29-bqh4fu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1062&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543172/original/file-20230817-29-bqh4fu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1062&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Frequency of fires between 1980 to 2000 (top) and between 2001 and 2020 (bottom) across regions throughout eastern Victoria.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Authors provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A complex picture</h2>
<p>We found the changes in fire frequency were nuanced and complex. Across the study areas, the frequency of wildfires was very strongly affected by topographical features such as slope, as well as climate measures such as rainfall and temperature. However, the influence of these factors differed markedly between areas. </p>
<p>For example, in four bioregions we studied, wildfires became more frequent as rainfall declined. But the opposite was true in the other two bioregions. </p>
<p>The reasons for these complex findings remain unclear. Increased average rainfall may, in some cases, arrive in storm events with associated lightning (which can start fires). It can also lead to faster water runoff, meaning rainfall may not be as well retained in the soil as otherwise might be, and forests could become drier.</p>
<p>Similarly, fire frequency was also affected by the extent to which temperatures deviated from the long-term average. Generally, this deviation was toward hotter temperatures.</p>
<p>In some areas, this temperature variation was associated with less frequent fires. In others, it coincided with more frequent fires. Again, the reasons for these differences are not yet clear. </p>
<p>The increase in fire frequency is alarming. Some places where fire has been particularly frequent include wetter forests, such as those dominated by ash-type eucalypts. Consistent with earlier analyses, we found evidence of locations that have experienced up to <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2002269117">four fires in the past 25 years</a>. </p>
<p>Fires in ash-type ecosystems have historically occurred only once every <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378112799000663">75 to 150 years</a>. Fires occurring too often in these environments may lead to the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gcb.15539">entire ecosystem collapsing</a>.</p>
<p>Our results have major implications for the native forest logging forestry industry. More frequent fires means many trees burn well before they’ve reached an age suitable for sawlogs. This suggests yields from native forest logging in south-eastern Australia will decline, making the practice even <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/wf/WF20129">more financially precarious</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/giant-old-trees-are-still-being-logged-in-tasmanian-forests-we-must-find-ways-of-better-protecting-them-211670">Giant old trees are still being logged in Tasmanian forests. We must find ways of better protecting them</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="a scorched hillside" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543170/original/file-20230817-29-bq1847.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543170/original/file-20230817-29-bq1847.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543170/original/file-20230817-29-bq1847.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543170/original/file-20230817-29-bq1847.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543170/original/file-20230817-29-bq1847.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543170/original/file-20230817-29-bq1847.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543170/original/file-20230817-29-bq1847.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A fire-affected area in the Victorian Alps following fires in 2013. The area, near the Gippsland town of Licola, also burned in 2007 and later in 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Authors provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What must happen next?</h2>
<p>Our results confirm wildfires are becoming more frequent in parts of fire-prone south-eastern Australia. And while climate change influences the frequency of fire, the effects vary across geographical areas. </p>
<p>Clearly, we must seek to limit the number of wildfires. An obvious response is to take more strident steps to tackle climate change. But even if humanity meets this huge global challenge, it will be a long time before we see demonstrable changes in climate conditions.</p>
<p>More immediate options include managing vegetation to reduce flammability. For example, activities such as logging and thinning can make forests <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/conl.12766">more flammable</a>, so such practices should be halted in these vulnerable ecosystems.</p>
<p>Greater efforts are needed to conserve biodiversity that is sensitive to fire, and to conserve ecosystems at risk of collapse. We must also embrace <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.ade4721">new technologies to detect wildfires</a> as soon as they ignite, and suppress them as quickly as possible.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211683/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Lindenmayer receives funding from the Australian Government, and the Victorian Government. He is a Councillor with the Biodiversity Council and is a member of Birds Australia. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philip Zylstra is a member of the Leeuwin Group and receives funding from the Koorabup Trust. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Taylor and Maldwyn John Evans do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Fire frequency is increasing in all ecosystems studied. But in some places, fires were occurring so often it put entire ecosystems at risk of collapse.David Lindenmayer, Professor, The Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National UniversityChris Taylor, Research Fellow, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National UniversityMaldwyn John Evans, Senior Research Fellow, Australian National UniversityPhilip Zylstra, Adjunct Associate Professor at Curtin University, Research Associate at University of New South Wales, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2116702023-08-16T06:36:33Z2023-08-16T06:36:33ZGiant old trees are still being logged in Tasmanian forests. We must find ways of better protecting them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542963/original/file-20230816-15-evtmsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C2%2C948%2C513&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bob Brown Foundation</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The photo said it all. On the back of a logging truck, a tree so large it could barely fit. It was cut down in Tasmania’s Florentine Valley, not far from Mount Field, where it had started life as a seedling over a century ago. </p>
<p>The photo triggered outrage from conservationists and the public. Greens founder Bob Brown <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/aug/16/protest-tree-estimated-hundreds-of-years-old-cut-down-tasmania">called the felling</a> “a national disgrace” and urged a halt to the felling of old growth giants. </p>
<p>Giant trees are supposed to be protected as a matter of normal process. Trees over 85 metres high or with a trunk volume of 280 cubic metres should be retained with a 100 metres radius of uncleared bush around them. The loggers say this one was cut down for “safety reasons”. We don’t know if this one met those criteria. </p>
<p>Whether or not that’s true, the felling has sparked a new battle in Tasmania’s long-running forest wars. Unlike in Victoria, old growth logging in Tasmania doesn’t look like ending any time soon. But we must find ways to better protect these giants of nature, the tallest flowering trees in the world. They store huge amounts of carbon in their trunks and in the soil, provide habitat for many forest creatures and produce awe in humans who see them. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542927/original/file-20230816-29-ngu4pv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="florentine valley logged tree`" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542927/original/file-20230816-29-ngu4pv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542927/original/file-20230816-29-ngu4pv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1302&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542927/original/file-20230816-29-ngu4pv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1302&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542927/original/file-20230816-29-ngu4pv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1302&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542927/original/file-20230816-29-ngu4pv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1636&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542927/original/file-20230816-29-ngu4pv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1636&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542927/original/file-20230816-29-ngu4pv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1636&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The fallen giant.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bob Brown Foundation</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Why was this giant logged?</h2>
<p>The truck transporting the trunk of the tree was seen exiting Tasmania’s Florentine Valley. This valley has been the site of many protests over the years. Part of it is in the World Heritage Area, but logging is still allowed in other parts of it.</p>
<p>Why was a tree this size cut down? Safety. </p>
<p>“On occasion, it may be necessary for Sustainable Timber Tasmania to remove a large tree where it presents an access or safety risk,” a spokeswoman told <a href="https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/natural-wonder-gone-tasmanian-forestry-photo-slammed-as-utter-environmental-travesty/news-story/2af220353dc281ac9abb24b80e36fca9?btr=9f5301b881f640a9ebe7c711d214386b">news.com.au</a>. </p>
<p>That is possible. Giant old trees can hollow out as they age and become a safety risk if people are allowed near them. But the trunk in the published photo shows no sign of hollowing out. If it was a giant, the mandatory 100 metre protection zone would eliminate almost all risk. </p>
<p>At the very least, the felling suggests not all of Tasmania’s ancient trees are adequately protected. What it shows is the need for independent assessment of areas slated for logging likely to be home to giants – and to ensure trees felled for “safety” reasons" genuinely need to be removed. </p>
<p>And what about trees that are not quite big enough to be protected? As ecologist and tall-tree expert Dr Jennifer Sanger <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/aug/16/protest-tree-estimated-hundreds-of-years-old-cut-down-tasmania">has observed</a>, the 85-metre figure is arbitrary. We need to plan for the giant trees of the future by keeping the almost giant trees of now. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/after-the-chainsaws-the-quiet-victorias-rapid-exit-from-native-forest-logging-is-welcome-and-long-overdue-206181">After the chainsaws, the quiet: Victoria's rapid exit from native forest logging is welcome – and long overdue</a>
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<h2>Ancient giants matter</h2>
<p>Mountain ash (<em>Eucalyptus regnans</em>) is the world’s largest flowering plant. The trees can live up to 700 years and reach over 100 metres in height. </p>
<p>Do they matter more than other trees? Yes. That’s because big old trees begin to decay in interesting ways, creating hollows for possums and birds to nest in, and even hollowing out inside the trunk, which makes habitat for bats. They play an outsized role in ecosystems in providing shelter, hollows and food. </p>
<p>Ironically, these processes of decay can make these giants all but useless for timber. If you’re logging a giant to turn it into large structural beams, you might find it’s hollow inside and all but useless. </p>
<p>The sheer size of these trees also means they have more habitat to offer for other forms of life. Native animals, birds and invertebrates rely on these trees. Plus, they store massive amounts of carbon, both above ground and in the soil. Cutting down the old growth forests of which these trees are a part and turning them into production forests results in a substantial ongoing leakage of soil carbon for many generations.</p>
<p>The trees induce awe and wonder in most who see them. People are passionate about keeping them on the planet – one of the reasons for the forest wars in the first place. These huge trees attract tourists to walk beneath them or up in their canopies. </p>
<h2>Haven’t Tasmania’s forest wars stopped?</h2>
<p>Sadly, no. The decades-long battle between loggers and conservationists in Tasmania has certainly become less intense after many old growth forests such as the Weld, Styx, Florentine and Great Western Tiers <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/tasmanias-old-growth-forests-win-heritage-protection-20130624-2os3p.html">gained World Heritage protection</a> in 2013. </p>
<p>But native forest logging in Tasmania shows no sign of stopping entirely. Old-growth logging continues around the state, including in the Florentine Valley where this giant tree was felled. Rainforest trees in some reserves are available for logging. </p>
<p>In May, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews <a href="https://theconversation.com/after-the-chainsaws-the-quiet-victorias-rapid-exit-from-native-forest-logging-is-welcome-and-long-overdue-206181">announced</a> his state would this year end native forest logging, which has long been a loss-making industry. Instead, plantation logging will be expanded. </p>
<p>Why can’t Tasmania do this? It mostly <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-electioneering-is-at-the-root-of-tasmanias-forest-furore-22773">comes down</a> to politics. Tasmania is the poorest state in Australia, and the few jobs logging native forests are politically important. </p>
<p>Also, the wood from larger trees are better for ends such as veneer, exposed beams and furniture than most plantation-sourced wood. Their felling can be rewarding financially for the companies that do it, as no-one has to pay to grow them and they can contain large volumes of high quality wood. </p>
<p>But overall, cutting down old growth forests may not stack up economically, with the quasi-government enterprises managing production forests often making losses. It didn’t make much <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/logging-agency-vicforests-blames-legal-woes-for-record-financial-loss-20221221-p5c7yl.html">financial sense</a> in Victoria, and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/29/tasmanian-forest-agreement-delivers-13bn-losses-in-giant-on-taxpayers">may not</a> in Tasmania. </p>
<p>Will the felling of this giant bring change? Don’t bet on it. Probably the best we can hope for is to preserve as many giants – and near-giants – as we can. And to do that, we’ll need independent assessments of old growth forest slated for logging to double-check measurements of these precious trees. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/photos-from-the-field-capturing-the-grandeur-and-heartbreak-of-tasmanias-giant-trees-144743">Photos from the field: capturing the grandeur and heartbreak of Tasmania's giant trees</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211670/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Professor Jamie Kirkpatrick sits on the Tasmanian Independent Science Council</span></em></p>Tasmania’s forestry wars aren’t over, if the uproar over the felling of a large mountain ash is anything to go by.Jamie Kirkpatrick, Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2099812023-07-22T08:22:52Z2023-07-22T08:22:52ZKenya’s logging ban has been lifted – it’s a political decision and a likely setback for conservation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538145/original/file-20230718-25-ewgu2f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A scout from Kenya's forest protection unit walks past mangrove tree stumps in Malindi.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Simon Maina/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Kenyan president William Ruto has <a href="https://www.semafor.com/article/07/06/2023/lifting-kenya-logging-ban">lifted a six-year ban on logging</a>, despite <a href="https://www.vuma.earth/petitions/hands-off-our-forests-don-t-lift-the-ban-on-logging-public-community-forests-in-kenya">public objections</a>. Ruto said it would create jobs and boost economic growth. Lisa E. Fuchs has <a href="https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781847013477/a-political-ecology-of-kenyas-mau-forest/">studied the Mau Forest Complex</a>, one of Kenya’s most important – and most threatened – forests. She unpacks the implications of this decision.</em></p>
<h2>Why is the lifting of Kenya’s logging ban controversial?</h2>
<p>A logging ban is a political instrument. Its effectiveness depends mainly on two things. First, who is included and who is not, and why and how these actors will be supported to re-orient themselves sustainably. Second, the political will to implement it according to its intention. </p>
<p>The same applies for lifting a logging ban. But it’s important to keep in mind that controversial political announcements and decisions target different audiences. </p>
<p>Kenya’s latest logging ban was <a href="https://www.citizen.digital/news/government-bans-logging-191860">introduced in 2018</a>. This government directive was informed by shrinking water resources and came amid discussions to save Kenya’s water towers. </p>
<p>Deforestation in Kenya rose steeply from the early 1990s. According to estimates from the United Nations Environment Programme, the deforestation rate in Kenya was <a href="https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/8513/Montane_Forests_Kenya.pdf#page=10">5,000 hectares per year by 2010</a>. This had several effects, including changes in biodiversity, river flows and the microclimate. They had an impact on agricultural production, hydropower generation and inland fish production. Human health and well-being were also affected.</p>
<p>Environmentalists have argued that lifting this latest ban risks reversing the gains made in recent years to improve Kenya’s tree cover. The country surpassed its <a href="https://www.kenyanews.go.ke/kenya-surpasses-10-tree-cover-assessment-report-2021-says/">10% minimum tree cover target in June 2022</a>. It now plans to raise tree cover to <a href="https://www.kenyanews.go.ke/kfs-begins-1-5-billion-tree-project/">30% by 2032</a> by planting 15 billion trees. </p>
<p>Trees and forests <a href="https://www.fao.org/ecosystem-services-biodiversity/background/regulating-services/en/">provide ecosystem services</a> like air, climate and water regulation. These influence landscapes, livelihoods, economies and entire food systems.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-politics-has-subverted-conservation-efforts-to-protect-kenyas-mau-forest-187473">How politics has subverted conservation efforts to protect Kenya’s Mau Forest</a>
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<p>I have <a href="https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781847013477/a-political-ecology-of-kenyas-mau-forest/">studied Kenya’s failure</a> to “Save the Mau”. This was the tagline of <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/kenya/kenya-launches-multimillion-dollar-appeal-restore-vital-mau-forest">a large-scale campaign</a> to rehabilitate the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-politics-has-subverted-conservation-efforts-to-protect-kenyas-mau-forest-187473">Mau Forest Complex</a> in 2009. It involved multiple stakeholders, led by government and supported by civil society.</p>
<p>The Kenyan state has <a href="https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781847013477/a-political-ecology-of-kenyas-mau-forest/">historically</a> viewed and dealt with forests in terms of production and economic development, rather than biodiversity and conservation. Ruto, as minister for agriculture (2008-2010) and as deputy president (2013-2022), has <a href="https://nation.africa/kenya/news/politics/mps-demand-land-for-evicted-mau-squatters-614656">repeatedly defended this stance</a>. </p>
<h2>How have previous logging bans in Kenya played out?</h2>
<p>A similar ban – or rather, a three-month moratorium that was never officially lifted – existed between <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342136715_Logging_Ban_in_Kenya_Convergence_or_Divergence_from_the_Forest_Law_and_Policy_and_Impacts_on_Plantation_ForestryLogging_Ban_in_Kenya_Convergence_or_Divergence_from_the_Forest_Law_and_Policy_and_Impact">1999 and 2011</a>. In 1999, <a href="https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/28379/MauForest.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y#page=4">the country’s forests were in a bleak state</a>. “Post box sawmillers” – companies that existed on paper but not in practice – were held responsible for much of the disaster, alongside the Forestry Department, which was in charge of registering and licensing them. </p>
<p>The moratorium nullified these sawmillers’ licences. It restricted them from legal logging, denying them access to public forests. What many people don’t know is that this <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342136715_Logging_Ban_in_Kenya_Convergence_or_Divergence_from_the_Forest_Law_and_Policy_and_Impacts_on_Plantation_ForestryLogging_Ban_in_Kenya_Convergence_or_Divergence_from_the_Forest_Law_and_Policy_and_Impact">ban was only partial</a>. Kenya’s big timber producing companies (Timsales, Raiply, Comply and, intermittently, Pan-African Paper Mills) continued harvesting, processing and selling wood, timber and non-timber forest products without restriction. </p>
<p>These <a href="https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781847013477/a-political-ecology-of-kenyas-mau-forest/">politically well-connected companies</a> held a monopoly over the production and export of wood products. </p>
<p>In 1999, forest management was still regulated by the <a href="https://faolex.fao.org/docs/pdf/ken3176.pdf">1960 Forest Act</a>. This law was widely held responsible for legal forest destruction by allowing the minister for forestry to <a href="https://faolex.fao.org/docs/pdf/ken3176.pdf#page=3">convert the legal status of public forest land</a> through a simple order published in the government Gazette. </p>
<p>However, even after the adoption of the landmark <a href="http://kenyalaw.org/kl/fileadmin/pdfdownloads/Acts/ForestsAct_No7of2005.pdf">2005 Forests Act</a> and the formation of the <a href="https://www.environment.go.ke/kfs/">Kenya Forest Service</a> in 2007, the situation didn’t change as much as it should have. Existing regulations were poorly applied. </p>
<p><a href="https://nation.africa/kenya/news/how-moi-played-role-in-plunder-of-greater-mau-forest-206962">Corruption</a> played a part in forest destruction by both big timber companies and small-scale saw millers. The Kenya Forest Service has repeatedly been named in this context in both <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/tnrc-topic-brief-anti-corruption-and-equitable-benefit-sharing-in-kenya-s-wildlife-and-forest-sectors-gaps-and-lessons">academic</a> and public inquiries, including a <a href="https://dc.sourceafrica.net/documents/119389-2018-Taskforce-Report-on-Forest-Resources.html">2018 investigation</a>. </p>
<h2>What is the current political context?</h2>
<p>The political climate in Kenya is <a href="https://acleddata.com/2023/04/28/kenya-situation-update-april-2023-rise-in-disorder-as-opposition-stages-mass-demonstrations/">heated</a>. </p>
<p>Ruto has been under tremendous pressure since he took office in September 2022. The opposition has <a href="https://theconversation.com/mass-protests-in-kenya-have-a-long-and-rich-history-but-have-been-hijacked-by-the-elites-202979">mobilised public protests</a> over the cost of living. Sending a message about creating jobs can be read as an attempt to address people’s worries related to the economy. </p>
<p>At the same time, discussing forests can be interpreted as directly engaging opposition leader Raila Odinga, who <a href="https://nation.africa/kenya/news/raila-s-campaign-blitz-to-save-the-mau-669288">led the “Save the Mau” campaign</a> until its abrupt halt in 2010-11. Ruto and his allies played an important role in the halt. </p>
<p>During Kenya’s 2022 electoral campaign, Ruto promised change and economic empowerment through a <a href="https://www.citizen.digital/news/the-six-pillars-of-dp-rutos-bottom-up-economic-model-and-why-he-believes-it-is-the-solution-n301225">bottom-up development model</a>. Redistributing access to and benefits from the country’s forests might speak to many rural people and communities who are dependent on forest commodities – and to their political representatives. And having inherited a <a href="http://www.parliament.go.ke/index.php/public-debt-stock-projected-surpass-kshs-10-trillion-mark-june-2024#:%7E:text=As%20of%20January%202023%2C%20the,a%20threshold%20of%2055%20percent.">deeply indebted economy</a>, Ruto has been looking for new avenues to generate revenue.</p>
<h2>What’s the way forward?</h2>
<p>Depoliticising environmental and forest conservation will help in seeking sustainable solutions. It will be particularly important to address the speculation over the lifting of the logging ban. The environment ministry <a href="https://www.environment.go.ke/logging-ban-lifted-in-commercial-forests-only-cs-tuya-reiterates/">recently said</a> the ban had been lifted only in commercial forests.</p>
<p>During <a href="https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781847013477/a-political-ecology-of-kenyas-mau-forest/">my research in the Eastern Mau Forest</a>, it became evident that political changes – or even the fear of political changes which could result in a redistribution of access and user rights – led to what local residents described as a “cutting craze”. </p>
<p>Timber companies, small- and medium-sized sawmills, and even ordinary community members all took extremely short-term approaches to securing benefits from the forest and its resources. </p>
<p><a href="https://nation.africa/kenya/news/kenyans-invade-forests-for-charcoal-after-lifting-of-ban-4302878">Short-term vision</a> has harmed the country and the environment in Kenya and globally. </p>
<p>Sustainable forest management (which includes both forest production and forest conservation) is not impossible or awfully complicated – at least when it’s not politicised. It mainly requires real political will.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209981/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lisa E. Fuchs does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Kenyan state has historically viewed forests in terms of production and economic development – not biodiversity and conservation.Lisa E. Fuchs, Independent researcher, French Institute for Research in Africa in Nairobi (IFRA-Nairobi)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2065432023-07-19T14:59:40Z2023-07-19T14:59:40ZA hundred years of logging threatens the Innu link to their land<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528930/original/file-20230529-34716-q1m1w7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C0%2C1920%2C1273&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Woodland caribou of the Pipmuacan herd. The effects of predation and habitat loss have greatly contributed to the decline of caribou in southern Nitassinan.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Stéphane Bourassa, Canadian Forest Service)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>“Nutshimit,” which means “the interior of the land,” is <a href="https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1178729/mot-prefere-innu-josephine-bacon">Innu poet Joséphine Bacon’s favourite word</a> because it is intimately linked to Innu identity. Nutshimit, the place where the Innu soul is deposited, is what created the links with the land that have ensured the survival and cultural and social development of the Innu over the millennia. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><strong>This article is part of <em>La Conversation Canada’s</em> series <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca-fr/topics/foret-boreale-138017">The boreal forest: A thousand secrets, a thousand dangers</a></strong></p>
<p><br><em>La Conversation Canada invites you to take a virtual walk in the heart of the boreal forest. In this series, our experts focus on management and sustainable development issues, natural disturbances, the ecology of terrestrial wildlife and aquatic ecosystems, northern agriculture and the cultural and economic importance of the boreal forest for Indigenous peoples. We hope you have a pleasant — and informative — walk through the forest!</em></p>
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<p>Atik, the woodland caribou, is the most important element that has helped foster links between the Innu and the land. Unfortunately, the interior has been undergoing major transformations for several years now. </p>
<p>So much so that in the southern part of the Nitassinan of the Innu of Pessamit, on Québec’s North Shore, this age-old link with the land is being erased as logging continues to move inexorably northwards. </p>
<p>As researchers, biologists (including one of Innu origin) and forestry engineers, we are at the interface of scientific and Indigenous knowledge. The forest environment is changing as a result of human activity. We are trying to gain a better understanding of how this is happening in order to guide future actions to preserve all the values that the forest represents, including Innu culture. </p>
<h2>The Nitassinan of Pessamit</h2>
<p>The Nitassinan of Pessamit is a vast territory within the boreal forest of eastern Québec. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538158/original/file-20230718-21-c6fftb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538158/original/file-20230718-21-c6fftb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538158/original/file-20230718-21-c6fftb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1100&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538158/original/file-20230718-21-c6fftb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1100&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538158/original/file-20230718-21-c6fftb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1100&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538158/original/file-20230718-21-c6fftb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1382&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538158/original/file-20230718-21-c6fftb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538158/original/file-20230718-21-c6fftb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1382&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Boundaries of Nitassinan of Pessamit. (David Gervais), Provided by the author.</span>
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<p>This territory stretches from the shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the edge of the Caniapiscau Reservoir. </p>
<p>There are three bioclimatic zones here (plant associations in balance with the regional climate): the southern one is the Balsam fir-White birch domain; in the centre is the black spruce-moss domain; and in the north the spruce-lichen domain. </p>
<p>René-Levasseur Island corresponds approximately to the northern limit of commercial logging. North of this limit, the forests are generally not productive enough to allow forest management. Logging operations are therefore concentrated in the southern portion of Nitassinan, an area approximately 60,000 km<sup>2</sup>, or twice the size of Belgium.</p>
<h2>A changing forest landscape</h2>
<p>Forest fires and, to a lesser extent, disturbance by insect pests help to regenerate the forests of Nitassinan. Because of the maritime climate and rugged terrain, fires, although present, are not very <a href="https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/X07-201">frequent</a> in the area. This allows forests to develop over very long periods free of disturbance.</p>
<p>As a result, the pre-colonial landscape of Nitassinan was heavily dominated by old-growth forests. It is estimated that over 70 per cent of the forested area was dominated by forests over 100 years old, 50 per cent of which were over 200 years old. We can imagine a matrix of old-growth forests that formed the backdrop to the forest landscape, with patches of younger forests superimposed as a result of the passage of fire. </p>
<p>Since the forest colonized Québec’s North Shore following the retreat of the glaciers, the proportion of old-growth forest has varied over time with climate fluctuation, while remaining the dominant component of the landscape. It is in this type of landscape that Innu culture has flourished.</p>
<h2>Old but rich forests</h2>
<p>Contrary to what is often said in forestry circles, old-growth forests in the boreal zone are not stands in decline, vulnerable to insects and disease. In fact, the absence of fire over very long periods allows forests to acquire characteristics that are absent from younger forests. For example, old-growth forests typically have a diversity of tree sizes and ages. </p>
<p>With the passage of time, these forests become reservoirs of dead wood and soil carbon. Many of the species found in old-growth forests are associated with these characteristics or require a lot of time without major disturbance to grow and become established. </p>
<h2>The forest is getting younger from south to north</h2>
<p>Since the early 1970s, Québec has periodically carried out an ecoforest inventory to obtain the knowledge necessary to <a href="https://mffp.gouv.qc.ca/les-forets/inventaire-ecoforestier/">plan sustainable forest management</a>. </p>
<p>Part of the data is obtained using aerial photographs of the entire forested area of southern Québec. These photographs are interpreted, and the boundaries of forest stands are drawn taking into account a number of variables. These include species composition, tree height, canopy density, forest age and natural and anthropogenic disturbances. </p>
<p>Thus, for the southern portion of Nitassinan, we documented the progression of logging and forest fires in order to assess their impact on the state of the forest, which has mainly been the disappearance of old-growth forests.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527838/original/file-20230523-15-i7karo.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527838/original/file-20230523-15-i7karo.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=776&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527838/original/file-20230523-15-i7karo.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=776&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527838/original/file-20230523-15-i7karo.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=776&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527838/original/file-20230523-15-i7karo.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=976&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527838/original/file-20230523-15-i7karo.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=976&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527838/original/file-20230523-15-i7karo.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=976&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Progression of logging and forest fires in the southern Nitassinan of Pessamit. (David Gervais), Provided by the author.</span>
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<p>Although logging does not lead to deforestation, its impact on forest landscapes results from the rate of harvesting and the spatial extent of interventions, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10980-015-0220-6">which exceed natural disturbances</a>. </p>
<p>Ecosystem-based management, in which <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1890/080088">the impact of harvesting on the forest would be within the limits of the variability imposed by natural disturbances</a>, would guarantee the maintenance of biodiversity and Indigenous cultural practices. </p>
<h2>Rate of cutting accelerating</h2>
<p>Unlike forest fires, cutting exclusively targets mature forest stands, including old growth forests.</p>
<p>By comparing forest inventory data from the late 1980s with similar data from the current period (2019), we can see the decline of old growth forests south of the 50<sup>th</sup> parallel north. Since the start of logging predated the 1980s, the proportion of old forests there was already reduced in comparison to north of the 50<sup>th</sup> parallel (21 per cent of old growth forests remain south of the 50<sup>th</sup> parallel north, compared to 57 per cent in the north).</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527839/original/file-20230523-15345-o3zyyd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527839/original/file-20230523-15345-o3zyyd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527839/original/file-20230523-15345-o3zyyd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527839/original/file-20230523-15345-o3zyyd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527839/original/file-20230523-15345-o3zyyd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=608&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527839/original/file-20230523-15345-o3zyyd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=608&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527839/original/file-20230523-15345-o3zyyd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=608&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Average size of continuous forest patches by age class. (David Gervais), Provided by the author.</span>
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<p>Although logging is more recent in the north, large tracts of old growth forests over 1,000 km<sup>2</sup> now occupy barely 20 per cent of the landscape, whereas they represented double of that 30 years ago. These large tracts are essential for the maintenance of vulnerable species, such as the woodland caribou.</p>
<h2>Devastating consequences</h2>
<p>The northward expansion of forestry operations and the accelerated rate of logging, in addition to natural disturbances and the fragmentation of old-growth forests, are having a direct impact on the biodiversity and cultural practices of the Innu. </p>
<p>For example, the steady increase in moose and its main predator, the wolf, since the 1990s is a direct consequence of forestry operations and forest rejuvenation. The arrival of moose and wolves in the habitat of woodland caribou has had devastating consequences for the latter. Predation pressure and habitat loss have contributed significantly to the decline of caribou in southern Nitassinan. </p>
<p>This has also had a major impact on traditional Innu culture, given their age-old link with the woodland caribou. For over fifteen years now, the Innu of Pessamit have stopped hunting caribou in the hope of contributing to its recovery. They are also investing in land protection with the aim of protecting the Pipmuacan herd.</p>
<p>Despite the major transformations that Nitassinan has undergone in recent decades, there is still time to preserve and restore the land, its biodiversity, the woodland caribou and Innu culture, while maintaining a truly sustainable economic activity. </p>
<p>That’s the challenge facing the Innu people, who have lived on the land for millennia.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206543/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>A realistic look at forest management on the Nitassinan of Pessamit, based on data from the Québec government’s forest inventories.Louis De Grandpré, Chercheur en écologie forestière, Conseil des Innus de Pessamit et professeur associé, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)David Gervais, Biologiste Forestier, Conseil des Innus de PessamitÉric Kanapé, Biologiste, Conseil des Innus de PessamitMarie-Hélène Rousseau, Ingénieure forestière, Conseil des Innus de PessamitLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2068602023-06-08T02:23:38Z2023-06-08T02:23:38ZHas time been called on the native forest logging deals of the 1990s? Here’s what the Albanese government can do<p>Victoria recently announced an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/23/end-of-native-logging-in-victoria-a-monumental-win-for-forests-say-conservationists">end to native forest logging</a> in December 2023, six years earlier than <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/nov/07/native-forest-logging-to-be-phased-out-by-2030-as-victoria-plans-timber-transition">previously announced</a>. Western Australia is <a href="https://www.wa.gov.au/government/announcements/native-forestry-transition-plan">ending it from January 2024</a>. The Greens and independent federal MPs are now calling on the Albanese government to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/01/pressure-grows-on-albanese-government-to-end-native-forest-logging">end native forest logging nationally</a>.</p>
<p>These developments are already destabilising the federal government’s environmental law reform agenda, and could even derail it.</p>
<p>While the states regulate forestry, the Commonwealth does have constitutional powers to intervene. But it could then face legal claims for compensation, as well as fierce opposition from the logging industry and unions. </p>
<p>Ultimately, though, the government’s hand may be forced.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/after-the-chainsaws-the-quiet-victorias-rapid-exit-from-native-forest-logging-is-welcome-and-long-overdue-206181">After the chainsaws, the quiet: Victoria's rapid exit from native forest logging is welcome – and long overdue</a>
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<h2>Decades of disputes coming to a head</h2>
<p>The disputes over forestry in Australia go back to the early 1970s. That was when environmentalists began fighting the clearing of native forests to make way for federally funded softwood plantations and the exporting of native timber woodchips. </p>
<p>Later forest battles in the 1980s, including over World Heritage nominations, brought forests such as the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-26/wet-tropics-world-heritage-listing-30-years-on/10634460">Daintree</a> in Queensland and the <a href="https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-7442">Lemonthyme</a> in Tasmania to public attention.</p>
<p>Prime Minister Paul Keating struck a deal with the premiers in 1992. All governments committed to the <a href="https://www.agriculture.gov.au/agriculture-land/forestry/policies/forest-policy-statement">National Forest Policy Statement</a> and to <a href="https://www.agriculture.gov.au/agriculture-land/forestry/policies/rfa">regional forest agreements</a> (RFAs). They agreed to cooperate to conserve the forest environment while encouraging the forestry industry.</p>
<p>Later that decade the Howard government negotiated ten regional agreements, covering forests in New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania. Queensland negotiated its own RFA-like deal for its south-east region. Logging there is <a href="https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/business-priorities/forestry/native-timber-action-plan/state-owned-native-timber">due to end from 2024</a>.</p>
<p>Each agreement would last 20 years, but be reviewed every five. These agreements were exempt from the Commonwealth’s shiny new Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act. The rationale was that the agreements had already gone through their own environmental approval process. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-should-happen-to-native-forests-when-logging-ends-ask-victorias-first-peoples-206412">What should happen to native forests when logging ends? Ask Victoria's First Peoples</a>
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<h2>Agreements face fresh scrutiny</h2>
<p>Fast-forward to 2023. The regional forest agreements have all been reviewed and rolled over for up to 20 years. </p>
<p>All is not sweetness and light, however. The agreements have been heavily criticised for <a href="https://epbcactreview.environment.gov.au">setting a lower environmental bar than the EPBC Act</a>, made worse by being poorly implemented and enforced. </p>
<p>In 2021, when the WA government <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/sep/08/western-australia-to-ban-native-forest-logging-from-2024-in-move-that-blindsides-industry">announced</a> it would end native forest logging, it cited environmental reasons and declining timber yields. </p>
<p>Then, last November, Victorian environment groups managed to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-12/endangered-gliders-offered-more-protection-court-orders/101647022">win two Supreme Court cases</a>. Essentially, they won on the ground that the state-owned VicForests was not following ecological protocols put in place for regional forest agreements. </p>
<p>This brought logging to a temporary halt, now made permanent after this year. No doubt the extra cost of complying with the protocols was a major factor in the decision.</p>
<p>Federally, a review in 2020 of the EPBC Act by Professor Graeme Samuel <a href="https://epbcactreview.environment.gov.au">recommended</a> regional forest agreements be subject to <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BriefingBook47p/ReformAustraliasEnvironmentalLaw">proposed new National Environmental Standards</a>. These standards are now the centrepiece of the Albanese government’s <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/nature-positive-plan.pdf">Nature Positive Plan</a> reforms. </p>
<p>The government committed to “work towards” bringing the forestry agreements under the new standards. But it has yet to spell out the detail. The future of forestry in NSW, Tasmania and Queensland remains unclear.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/native-forest-protections-are-deeply-flawed-yet-may-be-in-place-for-another-20-years-93004">Native forest protections are deeply flawed, yet may be in place for another 20 years</a>
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<h2>What could the feds do?</h2>
<p>What can the Commonwealth actually do? Can it at least raise the environmental bar for native forest logging to the same standard as for everything else, if not more? </p>
<p>The states directly regulate forestry and are in the forestry business themselves. The easiest way to raise environmental standards then would be for the remaining forestry states to take their own action. However, the prospects of that happening are unclear. </p>
<p>A 2022 plan by the then Perrotet government to end native forest logging in NSW was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/25/perrottet-government-plan-to-end-native-logging-in-nsw-was-blocked-by-nationals">blocked</a> by the junior Coalition partner, the Nationals. Queensland’s <a href="https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/business-priorities/forestry/native-timber-action-plan/native-timber-advisory-panel">review</a> of its native timber industry remains ongoing after two years. Tasmania <a href="https://www.stategrowth.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/89631/Forestry.pdf">remains committed</a> to its forest industry.</p>
<p>Even though the Commonwealth has preferred to pull strings from a distance, through national policy and regional forest agreements, it does have constitutional powers up its sleeve. These powers include the capacity to protect biodiversity directly in implementing the international <a href="https://www.cbd.int/convention/text/">Convention on Biological Diversity</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/logged-native-forests-mostly-end-up-in-landfill-not-in-buildings-and-furniture-115054">Logged native forests mostly end up in landfill, not in buildings and furniture</a>
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<h2>Problems are less a matter of powers than politics</h2>
<p>The problems lie more on the policy side. With the non-Victorian forestry agreements renewed for 20 years, the industry will cry foul if new environmental standards take more forest acreage out of play. They also have a card up their sleeves. The agreements provide for the Commonwealth to pay compensation if it passes legislation to increase environmental protection in the forests.</p>
<p>On the other hand, a standard for forests that made little difference to current forestry, or which took effect only after agreements expire, would be unacceptable to environment groups.</p>
<p>Then there is the crossbench push to override regional forest agreements and ban native forest logging across the nation. Given its liking for small-target approaches, it’s hard to see the Albanese government coming at something with such sweeping implications, including for union members, despite <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/the-three-things-stopping-tanya-plibersek-from-protecting-native-forests-20230524-p5davj.html">agitation</a> from Labor’s own environment ginger group, <a href="https://www.lean.net.au">LEAN</a>. </p>
<p>Then again, the government might not have much choice.</p>
<p>In Victoria, the courts forced the state government’s hand. For the Albanese government, it may be the Senate, where the crossbench has the power to hold the government’s entire environmental reform package to ransom.</p>
<p>It seems time is being called on the forest settlement of the 1990s. The government could use the time between now and next year’s Senate debate on its reform package to work up a new approach. It could be built around forest restoration, conservation and Indigenous empowerment, as experts are <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-cant-just-walk-away-after-the-logging-stops-in-victorias-native-forests-heres-what-must-happen-next-206596">proposing</a>.</p>
<p>If it doesn’t, we are headed for quite a stoush.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-cant-just-walk-away-after-the-logging-stops-in-victorias-native-forests-heres-what-must-happen-next-206596">We can't just walk away after the logging stops in Victoria's native forests. Here's what must happen next</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206860/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Burnett does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Two states will soon end logging of native forests, but what about the other states? The federal government has powers to intervene but also faces obstacles to nationwide protection of these forests.Peter Burnett, Honorary Associate Professor, ANU College of Law, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2065962023-06-04T20:05:10Z2023-06-04T20:05:10ZWe can’t just walk away after the logging stops in Victoria’s native forests. Here’s what must happen next<p>By the end of this year, native forest logging <a href="https://theconversation.com/after-the-chainsaws-the-quiet-victorias-rapid-exit-from-native-forest-logging-is-welcome-and-long-overdue-206181">will cease</a> in Victoria. Now begins a long and difficult process to recover vast areas of forest after more than 50 years of clearfelling and other destructive logging practices.</p>
<p>The supply of sawlogs in Victoria was close to being <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0309-1">exhausted</a>, and the state’s logging industry had long been financially unviable. Restoring the forest offers the opportunity to put something better in its place. </p>
<p>For many years, we’ve <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11056-018-9633-9">thought deeply</a> about the problem of these degraded forests and the restoration needed. It’s a huge job, but it can be done. Here, we outline what’s needed.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="protesters with sign 'logging fuels climate catastrophe'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529750/original/file-20230602-21-2owrp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529750/original/file-20230602-21-2owrp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529750/original/file-20230602-21-2owrp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529750/original/file-20230602-21-2owrp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529750/original/file-20230602-21-2owrp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529750/original/file-20230602-21-2owrp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529750/original/file-20230602-21-2owrp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">After decades of protect, native logging in Victoria will end. Now beings the process of restoration.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joe Castro/AAP</span></span>
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<h2>The scale of the problem</h2>
<p>Since the 1960s, clearcut logging has occurred across more than <a href="https://discover.data.vic.gov.au/dataset/harvested-logging-coupes-one-layer-per-logging-season2">300,000 hectares</a> of Victoria’s forests. Aside from the direct destruction, the logging has left remaining forest ecosystems badly fragmented.</p>
<p>Much logging was concentrated in the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/aec.12805">most species-rich areas of the state</a>. Logging removed <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2016.04.017">critical habitat</a> for threatened animals such as Leadbeater’s possum and the southern greater glider. </p>
<p>Young trees now dominate much of Victoria’s forest. It can take more than 120 years for trees to mature and form the hollows that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2017.02.014">animals require</a> to breed, nest and shelter. Until then, artificial hollows such as nest boxes will be required. They must be designed, built and installed properly, and replaced as needed.</p>
<p>In many parts of Victoria, extensive stands of trees need to be re-established. Preliminary assessments suggest regeneration of tree cover has partially or completely failed in <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-30/vicforests-accused-of-failing-to-regenerate-logged-forests/100652148">up to 30% of logged areas</a>. In addition, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/00049158.1998.10674726?needAccess=true&role=button">large parts</a> of a logging coupe can comprise cleared areas where trees were dragged, trimmed and loaded onto trucks.</p>
<p>It gets worse. Following successive major wildfires in many parts of Victoria, large areas of forest have <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11258-021-01217-2">failed to regrow</a>. Vast amounts of seed must now be collected and sewn to re-establish forest.</p>
<p>And in many areas, logging has altered the mix of tree species. The leaves of trees that remain are often <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2019.117585">unsuitable</a> as food for iconic animals such as the koala and southern greater glider. The right mix of tree species must now be restored. </p>
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<p>
<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/after-the-chainsaws-the-quiet-victorias-rapid-exit-from-native-forest-logging-is-welcome-and-long-overdue-206181">After the chainsaws, the quiet: Victoria's rapid exit from native forest logging is welcome – and long overdue</a>
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<img alt="A logging area burnt after clearfelling." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529725/original/file-20230602-15-2owrp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529725/original/file-20230602-15-2owrp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529725/original/file-20230602-15-2owrp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529725/original/file-20230602-15-2owrp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529725/original/file-20230602-15-2owrp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529725/original/file-20230602-15-2owrp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529725/original/file-20230602-15-2owrp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Logging in Victoria’s native forests will be banned from next year. Pictured: a logging area burnt after clearfelling.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chris Taylor</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<h2>Yet more challenges</h2>
<p>The types of restoration methods used needs careful consideration. Forestry industry advocates have <a href="https://ausfpa.com.au/publications/using-fire-and-machines-to-better-fire/">promoted</a> activities such as industrial tree thinning, but this can make things <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12766">worse</a>.</p>
<p>We must be careful, too, about industrial-scale prescribed burning. When done badly, it can harm forests and their biodiversity. This recently occurred south of Perth, when a population of the endangered western ringtail possum was <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.13264">decimated</a> by a prescribed burn.</p>
<p>Neither burning nor thinning on an industrial scale will be appropriate in some ecosystems. These include those dominated by mountain ash and alpine ash, where a lot of logging in Victoria was concentrated over the past few decades. Industrial-scale prescribed burning would likely lead to their <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/emr.12564">collapse</a>.</p>
<p>Yet another restoration challenge will be controlling feral animals such introduced deer, which do <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/WR16148">enormous damage</a>. Major and sustained efforts will be needed to control <a href="https://invasives.org.au/blog/the-rise-and-rise-of-feral-deer-in-australia">exploding numbers</a> of these pest animals. </p>
<p>Robust monitoring programs are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0082">essential</a> to guide forest restoration. Collecting reliable data on a forest’s condition and biodiversity can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11056-018-9633-9">help determine</a> whether restoration activities should continue or be changed.</p>
<p>Victoria <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/acv.12634">already has</a> monitoring programs that can perform this task. They should be maintained and expanded. Monitoring programs will also be crucial to the federal government’s so-called “nature repair market”, in which investors pay for habitat restoration in exchange for tradeable certificates. Monitoring is <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/emr.12573">needed</a> to ensure the integrity of this scheme.</p>
<p>Restoration programs must be coupled with an expansion of national parks and other protected areas in Victoria. In particular, the Victorian government should honour its <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/minister-flags-new-national-park-within-this-term-to-save-the-possum-20150502-1mydgl.html">2015 promise</a> to create a Great Forest National Park. This park along with others must be developed with First Nations people. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hecs-for-farmers-nature-repair-loans-could-help-biodiversity-recover-and-boost-farm-productivity-204040">HECS for farmers? Nature repair loans could help biodiversity recover – and boost farm productivity</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<h2>First Nations empowerment is key</h2>
<p>Restoring heavily logged forests will need an active workforce for many years to come. Meaningful and productive jobs will be available in areas such as tourism and forest management. </p>
<p>And First Nations people should now be <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-should-happen-to-native-forests-when-logging-ends-ask-victorias-first-peoples-206412">given the opportunity</a> to heal and manage Country. A Victorian government <a href="https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/new-jobs-back-aboriginal-workers-and-communities">program</a> to support Aboriginal jobseekers may be a way to support these activities.</p>
<p>First Nations people have already identified ways to heal and manage Country through self-determination and cultural practices. It’s involved a lot of work convening traditional knowledge-holders and working with government, including a <a href="https://www.deeca.vic.gov.au/futureforests/what-were-doing/victorian-cultural-landscapes-strategy">Cultural Landscapes Strategy</a> launched in 2021. The end to logging removes a key barrier to implementing the plan.</p>
<p>The First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria is making serious headway towards powerful and practical statewide and local treaties. These would <a href="https://www.firstpeoplesvic.org/treaty/">ensure</a> First Nations people have the power to make decisions that affect Country.</p>
<p>However, the Federation of Victorian Traditional Owner Corporations <a href="https://www.fvtoc.com.au/dont-stop-now">says</a> protection and restoration challenges must be urgently addressed, and land rights <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5b337bd52714e5a3a3f671e2/t/646c7440d57d9665a1a83aa6/1684829249204/20230523+Victorian+Traditional+Owners+must+lead+partnership+deciding+future+of+forested+Country.PDF">can’t wait</a> for treaties.</p>
<h2>Let’s get this right</h2>
<p>Many parts of the world have successfully moved away from heavy extraction-based industries – both ecologically and economically. It is time for Victoria to do this in forests.</p>
<p>The decision to end native forest logging in Victoria came decades too late, but vast areas of badly damaged forest can be restored. And if it’s done right, people and the economy will benefit too.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/logged-native-forests-mostly-end-up-in-landfill-not-in-buildings-and-furniture-115054">Logged native forests mostly end up in landfill, not in buildings and furniture</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206596/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Lindenmayer receives funding from the Australian Government, the Victorian Government and the NSW Government. He is a member of the Biodiversity Council and Birds Australia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Taylor does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Now begins a long and difficult process to recover vast areas of forest after more than 50 years of destructive logging.David Lindenmayer, Professor, The Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National UniversityChris Taylor, Research Fellow, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2064122023-05-30T05:25:16Z2023-05-30T05:25:16ZWhat should happen to native forests when logging ends? Ask Victoria’s First Peoples<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528994/original/file-20230530-15-vm7aep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C5400%2C2748&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The end of native forest logging in Victoria <a href="https://theconversation.com/after-the-chainsaws-the-quiet-victorias-rapid-exit-from-native-forest-logging-is-welcome-and-long-overdue-206181">announced last week</a> was met with joy from conservationists and shock from timber industry workers. </p>
<p>To date, this has been how the story has been told: a win for the environment, a loss for jobs in the industry. </p>
<p>But there is an aspect of the story which hasn’t been told. The end of native timber harvesting is an opportunity for Victoria’s First Peoples to tend these forests again. Our voices have not been heard in this debate, but we have much to do on Forest Country. </p>
<p>You might think an end to logging naturally means a return to wilderness. But wilderness as an ideal is a concept which has undermined the rights of <a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-knowledge-and-the-persistence-of-the-wilderness-myth-165164">Indigenous people</a>. For tens of thousands of years, we worked with Forest Country to ensure its health. When colonists first arrived the land was often described as resembling parklands. Colonisation took that away. In some places this change allowed <a href="https://theconversation.com/this-rainforest-was-once-a-grassland-savanna-maintained-by-aboriginal-people-until-colonisation-138289">wilderness to set in</a> and some to became more <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-1970s-conservation-laws-turned-this-paradise-on-earth-into-a-tinderbox-192401">fire prone</a>. </p>
<p>The end of native timber harvesting gives us an opportunity to rethink what Forest Country looks like. It doesn’t have to be dense forests everywhere. We could bring back areas of open Country and reintroduce practices such as cultural burning. We urge decision-makers and the public to keep their minds open – and listen to First Peoples voices. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529014/original/file-20230530-15-bktyo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="cool burn" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529014/original/file-20230530-15-bktyo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529014/original/file-20230530-15-bktyo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529014/original/file-20230530-15-bktyo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529014/original/file-20230530-15-bktyo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529014/original/file-20230530-15-bktyo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529014/original/file-20230530-15-bktyo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529014/original/file-20230530-15-bktyo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">First Nations involvement could see a return of cultural fire practices.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Taungurung Land and Waters Council</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<h2>First Nations voices must be heard</h2>
<p>The Victorian government’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/26/with-native-forest-logging-in-victoria-to-end-early-thousands-of-workers-face-an-uncertain-future">promise</a> to end native forest logging also included retraining and redundancy packages for workers. The government also announced an advisory panel would be formed to recommend areas for future protected areas – and for Traditional Owner management. </p>
<p>Conservationists are celebrating a win sought for decades. The damage done by logging on biodiversity <a href="https://theconversation.com/after-the-chainsaws-the-quiet-victorias-rapid-exit-from-native-forest-logging-is-welcome-and-long-overdue-206181">has been significant</a>, with once common species now endangered and mature forests now fragmented and dotted with young fire-prone regrowth. </p>
<p>It’s understandable this news has been framed around what it means for conservationists, nature and timber workers. As three Aboriginal Victorians, we acknowledge the important role for each of these groups in current and future forest management. But so far, the commentary has largely failed to include the voices of First Peoples in asserting their rights and obligations as they relate to Forest Country.</p>
<h2>What form should these forests take?</h2>
<p>When colonisers first came to the forests of Gippsland, their observations were of open forests with few but <a href="http://southeasttimberassociation.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Howitt-Influence-of-Settlement-on-the-Eucalyptus-Forests-1890.pdf">large trees</a>. These forest systems were cared for in a way which favoured a grassy understorey and a fine-scale mosaic landscape shaped by fire used at different times. This system produced abundant resources for the land’s Traditional Custodians, while supporting abundant and diverse native wildlife. </p>
<p>To maintain Country in this way took regular applications of low-intensity fire. The knowledge of how to manage Country in this way was lore. Over generations, our ancestors created and maintained productive landscapes designed for comfortable and safe human habitation. Foremost in the minds of our old people was nurturing Country, passing on cultural knowledge and keeping alive the tangible and intangible cultural values of their ancestors. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528988/original/file-20230530-19-rynp8x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528988/original/file-20230530-19-rynp8x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528988/original/file-20230530-19-rynp8x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528988/original/file-20230530-19-rynp8x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528988/original/file-20230530-19-rynp8x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528988/original/file-20230530-19-rynp8x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528988/original/file-20230530-19-rynp8x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528988/original/file-20230530-19-rynp8x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The park-like landscape early colonists saw was a cultural landscape created by First Nations. This 1866 Eugene von Guerard painting is Spring in the valley of the Mitta Mitta with the Bogong Ranges.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
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<p>With the removal of the custodians from Country, the landscape thickened. Abundant saplings quickly replaced these open forests with impassable scrub. In many places, the landscape has become <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-1970s-conservation-laws-turned-this-paradise-on-earth-into-a-tinderbox-192401">more prone to wildfire</a>. </p>
<p>Plantations cemented this thickening further, by favouring high density forests of straight trees of the same age and usually the same species.</p>
<p>Colonisation affected Country differently across Australia. But many effects are similar across the continent. European-style land management coincides with species extinctions <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000632071930895X?via%3Dihub">across the continent</a>. </p>
<p>The destruction of cultural landscapes has been a major contributor to the loss of biodiversity and increase in <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/4/3/61">catastrophic bushfires</a>. It’s the reason for the poor health of Country. </p>
<h2>What would real First Nations involvement look like?</h2>
<p>To begin the process of repair, Victoria’s First Peoples have partnered with the state government to create strategies which speak to healing Country, <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5b337bd52714e5a3a3f671e2/t/612723bb2186e97aaa41b4cf/1629955011692/1258_FVTOC+Cultural+Strategy.%C6%92web.pdf">bringing back</a> cultural landscapes and <a href="https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/media/6817/fireplusstrategyplusfinal.pdf">cultural burning</a>.</p>
<p>At present, Traditional Owner groups across the state are working towards developing their <a href="https://djadjawurrung.com.au/djaara-launches-forest-gardening-strategy-to-heal-country/">own strategies</a> to manage their Country. This is producing detailed planning and productive on-ground work. We invite the state to invest in our work planning and caring for Country. </p>
<p>Like the government, we agree that the end to logging doesn’t mean walking away from forest management. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-1970s-conservation-laws-turned-this-paradise-on-earth-into-a-tinderbox-192401">How 1970s conservation laws turned this ‘paradise on Earth’ into a tinderbox</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<p>Leaving our forests to themselves is not caring for Country. If we did that, it would entrench the persistent <a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-knowledge-and-the-persistence-of-the-wilderness-myth-165164">wilderness myth</a> that all forests look after themselves. It would also be an avoidance of our responsibility to care for this land. We cannot and should not be shut out from these forests. </p>
<p>To return Forest Country to health doesn’t mean leaving it alone. In some cases, we may need to thin trees or use cool burns to bring back open Country. This will take careful planning and hard work. It will take people working on Country, informed by Country. </p>
<p>The shift will also create economic opportunities for First Peoples in taking on custodianship of these landscapes. The end to state sponsored logging is an excellent opportunity for the government to <a href="https://www.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-09/Self-Determination-Reform-Framework-August-2019.PDF">meet its commitment</a> to self-determination of First Peoples. </p>
<p>When the government creates its <a href="https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/delivering-certainty-timber-workers">panel of advisors</a> on what to do with state forests post-logging, it must ensure First Peoples voices are strongly represented – and that the panel advises on tenure and ownership of the land and the future shape of these forests. We would be dismayed if these voices were not heard until after significant decisions such as new national parks had been made. </p>
<p>What might Victorian forests of the future look like? There’s no simple answer, because Forest Country is as diverse as the cultures of the Traditional Custodians who care for it. </p>
<p>But we can say that they should be shaped by the thoughtful stewardship of Victorians, with First Peoples cultural knowledge and practice at the fore. At the heart of this stewardship must be the love of Country – and care for community. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/after-the-chainsaws-the-quiet-victorias-rapid-exit-from-native-forest-logging-is-welcome-and-long-overdue-206181">After the chainsaws, the quiet: Victoria's rapid exit from native forest logging is welcome – and long overdue</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206412/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jack Pascoe is affiliated with the Biodiversity Council, Back to Country and the Conservation Ecology Centre.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Shanks works for Taungurung Land and Waters Council and receives funding from the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action. He is affiliated with the Biodiversity Council and Back to Country.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael-Shawn Fletcher receives funding from the Australian Research Council. He is also an independent Scientific Advisor for VicForests.</span></em></p>The end of native timber harvesting in Victoria offers a generational opportunity for First Peoples to care for Forest CountryJack Pascoe, Research fellow, The University of MelbourneMatthew Shanks, Director, Cultural Land Management at Taungurung Land and Waters Council, Indigenous KnowledgeMichael-Shawn Fletcher, Professor in Biogeography, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2013642023-05-17T14:00:59Z2023-05-17T14:00:59ZWhat log driving can teach us about forests, past and present<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516807/original/file-20230321-26-avunzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C5%2C991%2C497&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In North America, log driving is thought to have stopped by the end of the 20th century, with the exception of British Columbia, where it is still practised on a small scale.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The log drive is an integral part of Québec <a href="https://www.nfb.ca/film/log_drive/">culture</a>. Specifically, log driving refers to the use of waterways to float and transport logs from harvesting sites to sawmills or ports where they are exported. </p>
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<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524152/original/file-20230503-20-rp105s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><strong>This article is part of <em>La Conversation Canada’s</em> series <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca-fr/topics/foret-boreale-138017">The boreal forest: A thousand secrets, a thousand dangers</a></strong></p>
<p><br><em>La Conversation Canada invites you to take a virtual walk in the heart of the boreal forest. In this series, our experts focus on management and sustainable development issues, natural disturbances, the ecology of terrestrial wildlife and aquatic ecosystems, northern agriculture and the cultural and economic importance of the boreal forest for Indigenous peoples. We hope you have a pleasant — and informative — walk through the forest!</em></p>
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<p>The intensive exploitation of forests in Québec since the time of colonization has resulted in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-09265-z">major changes</a> in their structure and dynamics. Few virgin forests remain accessible today, which limits our ability to study pre-industrial forest conditions. Yet this knowledge is essential in order for us to be able to manage forests in a sustainable manner today. </p>
<p>The logs that sank to the bottom of lakes during the log driving period contain information on the history of Québec’s forests to which we have never before had access. For me, as a PhD student in paleoecology and historical ecology at the <a href="https://www.uqat.ca/recherche/grema/">Groupe de Recherche en Écologie de la MRC Abitibi (GREMA)</a> of the <a href="https://www.uqat.ca/">Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT)</a>, remnants of log driving represent an unprecedented opportunity to reconstruct the history of pre-industrial forest dynamics and exploitation in Québec. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508121/original/file-20230203-20-srd12l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="map" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508121/original/file-20230203-20-srd12l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508121/original/file-20230203-20-srd12l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508121/original/file-20230203-20-srd12l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508121/original/file-20230203-20-srd12l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508121/original/file-20230203-20-srd12l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508121/original/file-20230203-20-srd12l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508121/original/file-20230203-20-srd12l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Timing of the use of log driving around the world.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Amélie Bergeron and Julie-Pascale Labrecque-Foy)</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
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<h2>A practice dating back to the 10th century</h2>
<p>Over the past few centuries, logging has played a central role in the economic development of many countries, particularly for the construction of infrastructure and for trade. Forest companies used log driving because it was difficult to get access to roads and railways to transport cut logs. </p>
<p>The logs were cut, put into the water and then guided along the rivers by log drivers. Once logs arrived at the sawmills, they could be stored for several months on the surface of the lakes before being removed for their different uses. </p>
<p>Log driving is thought to have originated in the 10th century in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2018.05.002">Spain</a> and then spread across Europe over the centuries. It only appeared in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-005-0030-9">Scandinavia</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/f7110257">Russia</a> in the 19th century. It began in North America around the same time, most notably in <a href="https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/hq/2001-v6-n3-hq1057791/11343ac/">Québec</a>, where it spread to all regions. Log driving in North America is believed to have stopped by the end of the 20th century, except in British Columbia, where it is still practised on a small scale.</p>
<h2>Québec forests today</h2>
<p>During the period of colonization in Québec (1800-1950), the low transportation costs of log driving made it possible for forestry companies to exploit the forests intensively. This resulted in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2009.06.037">significant changes to forest ecosystems</a> both in their structure and dynamics.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509537/original/file-20230210-409-7zl61t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="River teeming with logs" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509537/original/file-20230210-409-7zl61t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509537/original/file-20230210-409-7zl61t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509537/original/file-20230210-409-7zl61t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509537/original/file-20230210-409-7zl61t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509537/original/file-20230210-409-7zl61t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509537/original/file-20230210-409-7zl61t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509537/original/file-20230210-409-7zl61t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">During the log driving era, about 15 per cent of the wood transported on rivers was lost when it sunk to the bottom of lakes and rivers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Library and Archives Canada / PA-165128</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The selective logging of the 19th century, which mainly targeted conifers, led to serious changes in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13474">composition of the forests</a>. The forests changed from being dominated by coniferous to deciduous trees. In terms of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1641/B580207">fire regime change</a>, since hardwoods are less flammable than conifers, there has been a major decrease in fires in Québec forests since colonization. These changes in forest composition and dynamics have resulted in decreased <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.31.1.425">forest resilience</a>. In other words, the ability of forests to return to their initial state after a disturbance is now compromised.</p>
<p>In the context of climate change, this loss of resilience is worrisome, since forests are likely to be subjected to unprecedented conditions. In order to predict how forests might be modified in the future, we have to study how they responded to climate change in the past. </p>
<p>This type of study can be done through <a href="https://www.environmentalscience.org/dendrochronology-tree-rings-tell-us">dendrochronology</a>, which is the study of tree ring formation. However, in Québec, dendrochronological studies, as well as our knowledge of pre-industrial forests are limited by the young age of the trees, which are rarely older than 200 years. So we need to develop new ways to discover the hidden secrets of our forests in the past. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508122/original/file-20230203-12399-4dxg4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508122/original/file-20230203-12399-4dxg4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508122/original/file-20230203-12399-4dxg4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508122/original/file-20230203-12399-4dxg4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508122/original/file-20230203-12399-4dxg4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508122/original/file-20230203-12399-4dxg4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=626&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508122/original/file-20230203-12399-4dxg4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=626&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508122/original/file-20230203-12399-4dxg4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=626&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Anoxic conditions, lack of light and cool temperatures all favour the conservation of logs from log driving found at the bottom of lakes. Photo by Nathalie Lasselin (www.aquanat.com) at La Mauricie National Park as part of the Cinéma Submergé project (a). Once removed from the lake bottom by divers (b), the cross-sectional slices of the logs show well-defined growth rings and fire scars (identified by red arrows) that allow us to date the fires in the past (c). Photos by Julie-Pascale Labrecque-Foy (b) and Amélie Bergeron (c).</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Travelling back in time with the remains of log driving</h2>
<p>At the time of log driving, approximately 15 per cent of the logs transported on waterways were lost in the bottom of lakes and rivers. For example, in the Mauricie region alone, this represents more than <a href="https://savoirs.usherbrooke.ca/bitstream/handle/11143/10556/Lemay_Maud_MEnv_2017.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">13 million cubic metres of wood</a>. Anoxic conditions (absence of oxygen), the lack of light and cool temperatures (5°C) have ensured that this wood is still well preserved today. Consequently, this wood from the pre-industrial forest represents a unique opportunity to study the past of our forests.</p>
<p>Among other things, the characteristics of these logs (species, diameter, number of growth rings) tell us about the characteristics of pre-industrial forests and the cutting criteria of the time. The passage of a fire also leaves scars on surviving trees. It is possible to date these scars by dendrochronology and to reconstruct the natural fire regime in the pre-industrial era. </p>
<p>Finally, by analyzing the <a href="https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-1153-2015">stable isotopes</a> found in the growth rings of logs, we can reconstruct the climate of the past. This will allow us to determine how the climate influenced fires in the past, and to predict how this disturbance might be modified in the future due to climate change. Indeed, there is currently no consensus on studies that attempt to predict how the fire regime might be altered in the context of climate change. More studies on this subject are needed. </p>
<p>Our research project will provide new knowledge about pre-industrial forests and how they have responded to climate change in the past, which will help guide practices for sustainable forest management.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201364/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julie-Pascale Labrecque-Foy has received funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Vanier Scholarship, and the Fonds de recherche du Québec, Nature et technologies (FRQNT).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Miguel Montoro Girona received funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) - Discovery Grant and from Parks Canada (La Mauricie National Park) for this research.</span></em></p>Logging over the past two centuries has had a major impact on Québec’s forests. The traces it has left will guide the adoption of sustainable forest management techniques.Julie-Pascale Labrecque-Foy, Étudiante au doctorat en paléoécologie et écologie historique, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT)Miguel Montoro Girona, Professeur d'écologie forestière, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2022912023-04-19T14:17:33Z2023-04-19T14:17:33ZIllegal logging in Africa is a threat to security<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518152/original/file-20230329-28-vtpova.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">View of an endangered indigenous tree felled by illegal loggers in the Nakuru forest area of Kenya. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">James Wakibia/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>African countries are estimated to lose <a href="https://www.morganstanley.com/content/dam/msdotcom/articles/changing-climate-for-food/Oxford-ag-report.pdf?v=2#page=47">US$17 billion</a> each year to illegal logging. High-value timber species are in global demand. </p>
<p>Illegal logging is most prevalent in the continent’s tropical rainforests. Foreign demand for rare hardwoods from these forests has <a href="https://cites.org/sites/default/files/eng/prog/enforcement/E-CoP18-034-Threat-Assessment.pdf">dramatically increased</a>. A significant driver is Chinese demand for teak, redwood and mahogany. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Africa’s share of rosewood exports to China <a href="https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/wildlife/2020/WWLC20_Chapter_2_Rosewood.pdf">rose</a> from 40% in 2008 to 90% in 2018. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520478/original/file-20230412-20-9ewiq4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520478/original/file-20230412-20-9ewiq4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520478/original/file-20230412-20-9ewiq4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520478/original/file-20230412-20-9ewiq4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520478/original/file-20230412-20-9ewiq4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=678&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520478/original/file-20230412-20-9ewiq4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=678&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520478/original/file-20230412-20-9ewiq4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=678&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UNODC World Wildlife Crime Report 2020</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Illegal logging has negative <a href="https://themisservices.co.uk/themis-blog/illegal-logging#:%7E:text=Through%20illegal%20logging%2C%20criminals%20exacerbate,needed%20carbon%20sinks%20and%20sequesters.">environmental effects</a> that weaken human security. Deforestation in the world’s second largest carbon sink, the <a href="https://forestdeclaration.org/press-release-new-report-deforestation-in-the-congo-basin-increased-by-5-in-2021-destruction-of-worlds-second-largest-tropical-forest-and-largest-carbon-sink-puts-climate-goals-at-risk/">Congo Basin</a>, is an urgent example.</p>
<p>Beyond environmental degradation, timber trafficking also affects national security. Drawing from our <a href="https://africacenter.org/spotlight/illegal-logging-in-africa-and-its-security-implications/">recent report</a>, which is based on our recent research and programmatic work at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, we have analysed three ways that illegal logging affects national security and what that means for current measures to counter it. </p>
<p>Firstly, illegal logging amplifies threats posed by organised criminal groups and violent extremist organisations. Secondly, illegal logging amplifies governance problems. This is because it facilitates collusion between senior corrupt officials and criminal networks. Thirdly, such collusion weakens accountable governance of natural resources in African countries. That’s a key ingredient of peace and security and a source of resilience to national security challenges.</p>
<p>Countering illegal logging requires two things. One is dismantling the high-level criminal networks driving it. The other is stopping the government-embedded actors who facilitate it. Oversight and accountability are therefore vital. Here, civil society can play a role. </p>
<h2>The knock-on effects</h2>
<p>Illegal logging happens through <a href="https://enact-africa.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/2018-09-20-research-paper-06-logging.pdf">small-scale and commercial operations</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://enact-africa.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/2019-09-24-oc-index-2019.pdf">ENACT Organised Crime Index</a> is a well-known measurement tool for assessing criminality and resilience. It identifies and tracks criminal networks, state-embedded actors, foreign actors and “mafia-style” armed groups that are locally well known and that control territory. </p>
<p>The work of these groups has several knock-on effects.</p>
<p><strong>Violent extremism and insurgency:</strong> The illicit timber trade fuels conflict and instability by providing resources for violent actors. For instance, trafficking networks in Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo linked to <a href="https://cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/mappingmilitants/profiles/ahlu-sunna-wal-jama">Ahlu-Sunnah Wa-Jama</a> and related militant groups in Mozambique made an estimated <a href="https://www.iese.ac.mz/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/cadernos_17eng.pdf">US$2 million</a> per month from illegal logging in 2019. </p>
<p>In Senegal, the <a href="https://us.eia.org/report/20200603-cashing-in-on-chaos/">Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance</a> recently funded its insurgency through the illicit logging of rosewood. <a href="https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/forests/bloodtimber/">Warlords and militias</a> in Liberia, Central African Republic and the DRC have also used the trade for financing.</p>
<p><strong>Collusion and corruption:</strong> Illegal logging often relies on government corruption and elite collusion with criminal networks. This <a href="https://africacenter.org/spotlight/justice-and-rule-of-law-key-to-african-security/">subverts</a> the rule of law and accountable governance.</p>
<p>Criminal networks are often aided by high-level state actors. For private gain, they help criminals <a href="https://www.independent.co.ug/race-on-to-restore-ugandas-forests/">purchase commercial concessions</a>, <a href="https://enact-africa.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/2018-09-20-research-paper-06-logging.pdf">acquire fake permits, or falsely declare the species of timber exports</a> to launder them. </p>
<p>Elites colluding in this trade then use the international financial system to move the profits into private bank accounts. This contributes to the estimated <a href="https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/aldcafrica2020_en.pdf">$88 billion</a> in illicit financial flows leaving Africa yearly.</p>
<p>In Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, son of President Obiang, <a href="https://enact-africa.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/2018-09-20-research-paper-06-logging.pdf">profited immensely</a> from the transport and export of rare hardwoods. As minister of agriculture and forestry, he sold some national forests to private companies and used a shell company linked to the ministry to charge fees for processing, loading, and transporting timber. </p>
<p>In 2021, the Zambian Anti-Corruption Commission <a href="https://www.lusakatimes.com/2021/11/03/anti-corruption-commission/">seized</a> 47 trucks illegally laden with rosewood bound for Namibia and Zimbabwe. The operation was allegedly <a href="https://eia-global.org/reports/20191205-mukula-cartel-zambia-report">facilitated</a> by certain ministers and family members of former Zambian president Edgar Lungu.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/africas-mukula-trees-score-a-victory-as-trade-is-put-under-closer-scrutiny-122560">Africa's Mukula trees score a victory as trade is put under closer scrutiny</a>
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<p>In 2019, Gabon’s vice-president and minister of forestry were part of a <a href="https://enactafrica.org/enact-observer/can-gabons-biggest-wood-scandal-save-its-logging-sector">rosewood trafficking scandal</a>. Since then, the government has sought to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/logging-help-climate-gabon-turns-its-rainforests-2021-11-02/">increase transparency</a> in natural resource governance.</p>
<h2>Solutions</h2>
<p>Many African states have tried to halt logging – with limited success. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/14489-report-by-lifting-the-logging-ban-guinea-bissau-will-renew-illicit-felling">Guinea-Bissau</a>, the <a href="https://www.climatechangenews.com/2021/07/14/dr-congo-plans-lift-logging-moratorium-amid-forest-protection-talks/">DRC</a> and <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business/business-news/article/2001394959/government-partially-lifts-ban-on-logging">Kenya</a> have controversially ended moratoria on logging. Mozambique lacks the capacity to enforce existing bans.</p>
<p>It’s easy to get around a moratorium when state security and justice systems do not operate transparently. A moratorium can even harden criminal networks without addressing the <a href="https://enact-africa.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/15-10-18-logging-policy-beirf.pdf">corruption</a> and <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business/business/article/2001413096/logging-ban-leaves-timber-traders-high-and-dry">livelihood challenges</a> that facilitate illegal logging. </p>
<p>Several other approaches to forest monitoring are being tried at smaller scale. These include using <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-africa-climate-forests/satellite-alerts-seen-helping-fight-deforestation-in-africa-idUSKBN2992B6">satellites</a> or <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0006320717317524#f0015">genetic markers</a> of protected trees. </p>
<p>The Kenya Forestry Service is <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/04/this-app-helps-kenyan-people-to-prevent-illegal-logging/">pioneering an app</a> for officers to use satellite data in community-based initiatives.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-cameroon-can-teach-others-about-managing-community-forests-114474">What Cameroon can teach others about managing community forests</a>
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<p>Regional responses have potential. In 2008, the Central African Forests Commission established an <a href="https://comifac.org/images/documents/Accord-sous-regional-sur-le-controle-forestier-en-afrique-cetrale.pdf">agreement</a> involving the environment and forestry ministries of eight countries to help coordinate law enforcement. </p>
<p>The agreement emphasises <a href="https://africacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/CTOC-SJ-Executive-Summary-EN.pdf">cross-border and interagency</a> coordination between security, justice, and forestry officials. These <a href="https://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/Documents/Publications/Assessing_progress_in_forest_law_enforcement_and_governance_in_Africa.pdf">harmonised</a> forest management practices are also promising in southern Africa.</p>
<p>Agreements like these are valuable but politically difficult to implement. </p>
<p>An example is the <a href="https://cites.org/eng/disc/text.php">Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora </a>. It is a binding agreement about the international trade of certain timber products. But it depends on states adopting relevant domestic legislation and policies.</p>
<p>Nonbinding instruments like the <a href="http://www.trafficj.org/publication/15_Zanzibar-Declaration.pdf">Zanzibar Declaration</a> on the Illegal Trade in Timber and Forest Products and the <a href="https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00WJKH.pdf">Accra Declaration</a> on Combating Illegal Trade in Rosewoods, Timber, and Forest Products also signal countries’ intent to honour commitments. </p>
<p>But doing so requires credible enforcement mechanisms.</p>
<h2>Bridging gaps</h2>
<p>Stronger oversight of actors involved in natural resource governance can help. Civil society has a role here. </p>
<p>For example, in Gabon, civil society has pressured the government for <a href="https://brainforest-gabon.org/actualites/?id=203">greater transparency</a> in logging contracts. In Cameroon, it has facilitated independent monitoring of <a href="https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/2021-07/2021-07-22-forest-sector-accountability-hoare-et-al.pdf">forest regulations</a>. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.modernghana.com/news/1091496/govt-dragged-to-court-over-issuance-of-special.html">Ghana</a>, legal cases have been filed that aim to preserve forests. And independent journalism has pressured officials to curtail illegal transport of rosewood. </p>
<p>Civil society also builds economic resilience to illegal logging. In Tanzania and the DRC, civil society has enhanced <a href="https://www.climatechangenews.com/2019/10/15/tanzania-ownership-forest-offers-new-prospects-old-loggers/">community control</a> over land management and made legal livelihoods in the logging sector <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210107-congo-basin-a-bold-plan-to-save-africas-largest-rainforest">more feasible</a>. </p>
<p>Uganda’s <a href="https://enactafrica.org/enact-observer/ugandas-reforestation-plan-cuts-illegal-logging">afforestation projects</a> have also helped.</p>
<h2>Key takeaways</h2>
<p>External oversight is a key part of countering illegal logging. It works best where civil society is strong. </p>
<p>Internal oversight is also important. Inspectors general, specialised prosecutors and independent anti-corruption bodies can help expose the kingpins organising illegal operations. </p>
<p><a href="https://issafrica.org/iss-today/global-war-against-drugs-reaches-kenya">International cooperation</a> between security, justice, and forestry officials should accompany oversight, so that these actors can share intelligence and facilitate the arrest, investigation, and prosecution of those engaged in illegal logging. </p>
<p>Regional and international agreements are working in the right direction. What they need is better implementation.</p>
<p><em>Caden Browne, a Political Science PhD student at Boston University, contributed to this report while on internship at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, National Defense University.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202291/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Illegal logging entrenches systemic corruption, undermines accountability in governance, and finances insecurity.Catherine Lena Kelly, Associate Dean and Associate Professor, National Defense UniversityCarl Pilgram, Senior Academic Associate, Africa Center for Strategic StudiesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1998452023-03-09T13:40:14Z2023-03-09T13:40:14ZThe Biden administration has called for protecting mature US forests to slow climate change, but it’s still allowing them to be logged<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514058/original/file-20230307-20-4x3z0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C15%2C3438%2C2286&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An old-growth tree that was cut in Alaska's Tongass National Forest. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/an-old-growth-tree-that-was-cut-is-seen-in-the-tongass-news-photo/1241027768">Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Forests are critically important for slowing climate change. They remove huge quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – <a href="https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4811-2022">30% of all fossil fuel emissions annually</a> – and store carbon in trees and soils. Old and mature forests are especially important: They handle droughts, storms and wildfires better than young trees, and they store more carbon.</p>
<p>In a 2022 executive order, President Joe Biden called for <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/04/27/2022-09138/strengthening-the-nations-forests-communities-and-local-economies">conserving mature and old-growth forests</a> on federal lands. Recently Biden <a href="https://theconversation.com/biden-restores-roadless-protection-to-the-tongass-north-americas-largest-rainforest-164680">protected nearly half</a> of the Tongass National Forest in Alaska from road-building and logging. </p>
<p>The Biden administration is compiling an inventory of mature and old-growth forests on public lands that will support further conservation actions. But at the same time, federal agencies are initiating and implementing numerous <a href="https://www.climate-forests.org/_files/ugd/ae2fdb_b5a2315e3e8b42498b4c269730c3955a.pdf">logging projects</a> in mature and old forests without accounting for how these projects will affect climate change or forest species. </p>
<p>As scientists who have spent decades studying <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=J2KWqAoAAAAJ&hl=en">forest ecosystems</a> and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/William-Moomaw">climate change impacts</a>, we find that to effectively slow climate change, it is essential to increase carbon storage in these forests, not reduce it. A first step toward this goal would be to halt logging federal forests with relatively <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00326-0">high-biomass carbon per acre</a> until the Biden administration develops a plan for conserving them. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1632094558308962304"}"></div></p>
<h2>Balancing timber and climate change</h2>
<p>Many of the <a href="https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/R42346.pdf">640 million acres</a> that the federal government owns and manages are used for multiple purposes, including protecting biodiversity and water quality, recreation, mining, grazing and logging. Sometimes these uses conflict with one another. </p>
<p>Legal mandates to manage land for multiple uses do not explicitly mention climate change, and federal agencies <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.3286">have not consistently factored climate change science</a> into their plans. However, at the beginning of 2023, the White House <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/ceq/">Council on Environmental Quality</a> directed federal agencies to consider the effects of climate change when they <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/01/09/2023-00158/national-environmental-policy-act-guidance-on-consideration-of-greenhouse-gas-emissions-and-climate">propose major federal actions</a> that significantly affect the environment. </p>
<p>Some logging projects fall into this category. But many large logging projects that affect thousands of acres have been <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/36/220.6">legally exempted</a> from such analysis.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514055/original/file-20230307-2080-gczo6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Steep hills studded with evergreen trees and laced with narrow roads." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514055/original/file-20230307-2080-gczo6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514055/original/file-20230307-2080-gczo6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514055/original/file-20230307-2080-gczo6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514055/original/file-20230307-2080-gczo6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514055/original/file-20230307-2080-gczo6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514055/original/file-20230307-2080-gczo6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514055/original/file-20230307-2080-gczo6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Logging roads crisscross steep logged slopes in Idaho’s Clearwater National Forest in 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/logging-roads-remaining-after-a-timber-sale-crisscross-news-photo/1189427245">Don & Melinda Crawford/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What’s lost when old trees are cut</h2>
<p>Most forests in the continental U.S. have been harvested multiple times. Today, fewer than 5% of these forests <a href="https://doi.org/10.2737/WO-GTR-97">are more than 100 years old</a>. Old, very large trees are the ones that hold the most carbon, and harvesting forests is the main driver of forest carbon loss. </p>
<p>For example, in Oregon’s national forests east of the Cascades crest, a 1990s policy formerly spared trees larger than 21 inches in diameter – but the rule was rolled back in 2021 so that large trees could be cut. A recent analysis found that these larger trees comprised just 3% of all trees in the six national forests, but <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2020.594274">accounted for 42% of living tree carbon</a>. </p>
<p>In the Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont, federal officials have approved 40,000 acres of harvest since 2016, targeting many mature and old trees. One 14,270-acre area that was approved for harvest in 2019 contained <a href="https://www.climate-forests.org/_files/ugd/ae2fdb_b5a2315e3e8b42498b4c269730c3955a.pdf">more than 130 stands older than 100 years</a>. This project required the construction of 25 miles of logging roads, which <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s40725-016-0044-x">can have harmful effects</a>, including fragmenting forests, polluting streams and making forests more vulnerable to human-caused wildfires. </p>
<p>Canada is also allowing large, mature trees to be harvested. In British Columbia, mature forests that include old-growth trees historically absorbed more carbon than they released to the atmosphere, resulting in a net carbon sink annually. But since 2002, these tracts have emitted more carbon than they removed from the atmosphere, primarily because of logging, beetle attacks and wildfires. According to British Columbia’s greenhouse gas emissions inventory, these forests now <a href="https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/climate-change/data/provincial-inventory">emit more carbon than the province’s energy sector</a>. </p>
<p>In eastern Canada, the Pacific Northwest and the southeastern U.S., timber companies have removed many old trees and replaced them with plantations that contain just one or two tree species. This shift has reduced the structural diversity of the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/forest-canopy">forest canopy</a> – the ecologically important layer formed by the crowns of trees – and the diversity of tree species. Losing old-forest habitat has also caused broad-scale <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01737-8">population declines</a> among many forest bird species in eastern Canada, and is likely having the same effect in the U.S.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dLOG5jzvnow?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">This National Park Service video explains how a second-growth forest – one that has grown back after being logged – is less diverse and healthy than an old, mature forest.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>More harvesting releases more carbon</h2>
<p>One argument forest product companies make to support logging is that wood can be regrown, and it <a href="https://bellwetherfp.com/lets-get-some-things-straight-about-logging-and-the-environment/#">releases less carbon dioxide to the atmosphere</a> than other building materials. Such claims often make optimistic assumptions that overstate the carbon benefits of harvesting trees by <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab1e95">factors of 2 to 100</a>. </p>
<p>Some studies indicate that <a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/features/thinning-forest-trees">thinning forests</a> by harvesting some trees and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.1791">reintroducing low-intensity fires</a> can reduce the intensity of future wildfires, leaving more carbon stored in trees. But these studies don’t account for the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s13021-016-0066-5">large amount of carbon</a> that is released to the atmosphere after trees are cut.</p>
<p>In a review published in 2019, we worked with colleagues to estimate how much carbon was contained in trees that were harvested in Washington, Oregon and California from 1900 through 2015, and what happened to it after the trees were logged. We calculated that just 19% of the harvested carbon was in long-lived wood products like timber in buildings. Another 16% was in landfills, and the remaining 65% was <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab28bb">released into the atmosphere</a> as carbon dioxide.</p>
<p>In contrast, in 2011 the Australian state of Tasmania <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/climate-change/publications/state-and-territory-greenhouse-gas-inventories">suspended logging on half of its old-growth forest area</a>. Within less than a decade, Tasmania was <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac661b">storing more carbon than it released</a> because it was avoiding harvest emissions and the mature trees it saved were accumulating so much carbon.</p>
<p>In the U.S. Pacific Northwest, implementation of the 1994 <a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/r6/reo/overview.php#">Northwest Forest Plan</a>, which the Clinton administration developed to protect endangered species in old-growth forests on public lands, significantly <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2014.11.023">increased carbon storage</a> over the next 17 years. In contrast, privately managed lands in the region accumulated virtually no additional carbon after accounting for losses from wildfire and harvesting.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514062/original/file-20230307-2223-vtcifz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Truck loaded with massive logs." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514062/original/file-20230307-2223-vtcifz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514062/original/file-20230307-2223-vtcifz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514062/original/file-20230307-2223-vtcifz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514062/original/file-20230307-2223-vtcifz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514062/original/file-20230307-2223-vtcifz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514062/original/file-20230307-2223-vtcifz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514062/original/file-20230307-2223-vtcifz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A logging truck in the Pacific Northwest in 1954. Since 1600, 90% of the original forests in what is now the U.S. have been logged.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/lumber-truck-pacific-northwest-usa-1950-news-photo/629442731">Universal History Archive via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The cheapest and simplest way to capture carbon</h2>
<p>President Biden has set a goal of reducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions to <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/US-Long-Term-Strategy.pdf">net-zero by 2050</a> to avoid catastrophic climate change. To reach that goal, U.S. forests, lands and oceans will have to remove as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as the nation emits from fossil fuels, industry and agriculture. </p>
<p>In the western U.S., our research shows that protecting half of the mature carbon-dense forests in zones that are relatively less vulnerable to drought and fire could <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00326-0">triple carbon stocks and accumulation</a> on protected forests by 2050. A majority of these forests are on public lands.</p>
<p>The carbon dioxide that human activities are releasing into the atmosphere today will elevate global temperatures and raise sea levels <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0812721106">for 1,000 years or more</a>, unless societies can find ways to remove it. In its 2022 climate assessment report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that protecting existing natural forests was “<a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Chapter02.pdf">the highest priority for reducing greenhouse gas emissions</a>.” </p>
<p>Conserving forests is one of the lowest-cost options for managing carbon dioxide emissions, and it doesn’t require <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-oil-industrys-pivot-to-carbon-capture-and-storage-while-it-keeps-on-drilling-isnt-a-climate-change-solution-171791">expensive or complex energy-consuming technologies</a>. In our view, sufficient science exists to justify a moratorium on harvesting mature trees on federal lands so that these forests can keep performing their invaluable work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199845/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>William Moomaw receives funding from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. He is affiliated with the Woodwell Climate Research Center and the Union of Concerned Scientists. Moomaw has been a lead author of five major Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Beverly Law does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Protecting old and mature trees is the simplest and least expensive way to pull carbon out of the atmosphere – but proposed logging projects threaten mature stands across the US.Beverly Law, Professor Emeritus of Global Change Biology and Terrestrial Systems Science, Oregon State UniversityWilliam Moomaw, Professor Emeritus of International Environmental Policy, Tufts UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2005282023-03-06T02:17:53Z2023-03-06T02:17:53ZWhen is a nature reserve not a nature reserve? When it’s already been burned and logged<p>Australia has the world’s worst mammal extinction record, with nearly <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicthreatenedlist.pl#mammals_extinct">40 native mammal species</a> lost since European colonisation. By contrast, the United States has <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/search/grid?landRegions=US&searchType=species">lost three</a>.</p>
<p>Last year, the federal Labor government made a <a href="https://minister.dcceew.gov.au/plibersek/media-releases/minister-launches-threatened-species-action-plan-toward-zero-extinctions">welcome commitment</a> to stop further extinctions. One essential tool to do this is protecting habitat in dedicated conservation reserves. </p>
<p>Reserves can and do work – especially when well designed and then well managed. By <a href="https://eprints.utas.edu.au/3689/">some estimates</a>, a quarter of the world’s bird species have been saved from extinction because of conservation reserves. Here too, the government is to be commended for plans to conserve 30% of the continent by 2030. </p>
<p>In light of this, we analysed Victoria’s newest conservation reserves - called Immediate Protection Areas - designed to conserve forest biodiversity in Victoria as the state prepares to <a href="https://djsir.vic.gov.au/forestry/forestry-plan">phase out</a> native forest logging by 2030. </p>
<p>We found Immediate Protection Areas didn’t do what they were supposed to do. The protected areas were small, and well short of the area needed to adequately conserve threatened species. Many Immediate Protection Areas were established in forests already burned, logged, or both, meaning their value as habitat was limited. Some areas even appeared to have been chosen because they were no longer needed for logging, rather than for their conservation value. </p>
<p>As we accelerate plans to protect more Australian habitat, we must watch for problems like this. Land with high conservation value must be prioritised for protection. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513056/original/file-20230302-24-vukyhr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="mountain ash" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513056/original/file-20230302-24-vukyhr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513056/original/file-20230302-24-vukyhr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513056/original/file-20230302-24-vukyhr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513056/original/file-20230302-24-vukyhr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513056/original/file-20230302-24-vukyhr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513056/original/file-20230302-24-vukyhr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513056/original/file-20230302-24-vukyhr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This old mountain ash forest of high habitat value for threatened species near Mt Baw Baw was excluded from Victoria’s new Immediate Protection Areas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chris Taylor</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What were these new conservation reserves meant to do?</h2>
<p>Victoria’s state government has pledged to conserve biodiversity. This includes measures such as protecting the critically endangered Leadbeater’s Possum, ambitious investments to protect the Southern Greater Glider, and ending <a href="https://djsir.vic.gov.au/forestry/forestry-plan">native forest logging</a> by 2030. </p>
<p>As a prelude, the government established Immediate Protection Areas to better protect forest species from the impacts of logging.</p>
<p>We compared the known and mapped ranges of threatened species against the new conservation reserve areas. We wanted to see where 53 threatened species – including animals such as Leadbeater’s Possum and Southern Greater Glider – were most likely to occur. We also examined what had happened to these areas previously, to determine their habitat value. Had they been logged or burned? </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513071/original/file-20230302-18-4ppe4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="map eastern victoria logging" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513071/original/file-20230302-18-4ppe4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513071/original/file-20230302-18-4ppe4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513071/original/file-20230302-18-4ppe4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513071/original/file-20230302-18-4ppe4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513071/original/file-20230302-18-4ppe4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513071/original/file-20230302-18-4ppe4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513071/original/file-20230302-18-4ppe4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Here you can see the Immediate Protection Areas (hatched areas) compared to the areas which we actually need to be protected (red), across the forests of eastern Victoria.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chris Taylor</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The results were sobering. The Immediate Protection Areas, combined with Victoria’s existing set of formal conservation reserves, fell well short of adequately protecting remaining areas of habitat for 23 of the 53 species analysed, such as the Southern Greater Glider, Leadbeater’s Possum, and Barred Galaxias. </p>
<p>This wouldn’t matter so much if the forests outside Victoria’s existing parks and reserves weren’t under pressure from continued industrial-scale logging of native forests by the state-owned forestry business, VicForests. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-victorian-logging-company-just-won-a-controversial-court-appeal-heres-what-it-means-for-forest-wildlife-160103">A Victorian logging company just won a controversial court appeal. Here’s what it means for forest wildlife</a>
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<p>But they are. And worse, areas of highest conservation value for threatened forest-dependent species, such as the Central Highlands north east of Melbourne, and East Gippsland in the far east of Victoria, will actually be targeted for logging under the <a href="https://www.vicforests.com.au/vicforest-forest-management/ops-planning/where-vicforests-operates/timber-release-plan">Timber Release Plan</a>. </p>
<p>These high conservation value areas are important because they provide critical habitat for rare and threatened species, including endemic species found nowhere else. </p>
<p>Even as native forest logging is supposedly winding down, a major conflict between logging and conservation remains. </p>
<p>VicForests is <a href="https://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/in-force/acts/forests-wood-pulp-agreement-act-1996/001">legally bound</a> to supply 350,000 cubic metres of logs from native forests to industry until 2030. This is the same year the Victorian government intends to cease native forest logging in Victoria.</p>
<p>In 2020, VicForest’s senior legal counsel <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/pc/pc21035">testified in court</a> that VicForests would have to shut down all its operations in the Central Highlands if it couldn’t continue to log threatened species’ habitat. </p>
<p>This is at at odds with both federal and state governments’ commitment to stop extinctions. Logging the remaining high conservation value habitat is going to accelerate rather than prevent extinctions. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513072/original/file-20230302-21-jdw7rk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="map of logged central highlands" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513072/original/file-20230302-21-jdw7rk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513072/original/file-20230302-21-jdw7rk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513072/original/file-20230302-21-jdw7rk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513072/original/file-20230302-21-jdw7rk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513072/original/file-20230302-21-jdw7rk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513072/original/file-20230302-21-jdw7rk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513072/original/file-20230302-21-jdw7rk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">You can see the impact of large-scale logging in red inside the Immediate Protection Areas across the Central Highlands (hatched areas). Logging is done intensively, clearcutting whole areas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chris Taylor</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Protect all remaining habitat for species on the edge</h2>
<p>An outsider might wonder why there has to be conflict. Aren’t there enough native forests to sustain seven more years of logging, especially now these Immediate Protection Areas have been established?</p>
<p>For many species, the answer is no. The number of sites occupied by species teetering on the edge of extinction, such as Leadbeater’s Possum, has <a href="https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/acv.12634">fallen by half</a> in the last 25 years. Logging is a major driver of its decline. </p>
<p>Protecting all Mountain and Alpine Ash forests where Leadbeater’s Possum occur should not be controversial. The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180511230505/http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/species/pubs/273-conservation-advice.pdf">declared</a> in 2015 that the most effective way to prevent further decline and rebuild the possum population was to cease logging in Mountain Ash and Alpine Ash forests of the Central Highlands. </p>
<p>But this isn’t just a cautionary tale about logging in Victoria. Unless we’re careful, we’ll see the same story again and again. </p>
<p>Protecting 30% of Australian land by 2030, as the government intends, means rapidly protecting large areas of land. At present, around 20% of our land is protected in some way. Increasing this by half again in seven years is fast. </p>
<p>The danger is that governments will look for ways to rapidly boost the percentage of land area under protection without determining whether the land is effective for conservation. </p>
<p>As important as the size of the areas of land protected is what lives on it, and the ecosystem services it provides. To prevent extinctions in Australia, some ecosystems will need total protection of every fragment remaining, especially those under significant threat where key species are in marked decline. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/protecting-30-of-australias-land-and-sea-by-2030-sounds-great-but-its-not-what-it-seems-187435">Protecting 30% of Australia's land and sea by 2030 sounds great – but it's not what it seems</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200528/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Lindenmayer receives funding from Australian Research Council, and the Australian and Victorian Governments. He is a member of Birds Australia. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Taylor does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Victoria’s critically endangered Leadbeater’s possum is just hanging on, despite new plans and reserves aimed at protection. Plans to log some of its remaining habitat will not helpDavid Lindenmayer, Professor, The Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National UniversityChris Taylor, Research Fellow, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2002762023-02-22T19:04:22Z2023-02-22T19:04:22ZWhy Tasmania and Victoria dominate the list of Australia’s largest trees – and why these majestic giants are under threat<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511366/original/file-20230221-24-n9vcdn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=58%2C58%2C5515%2C3640&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Meghan Lindsay/supplied</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia has an extraordinary diversity of trees, with more than 820 species of eucalypts alone. But not all trees are created equal. Some species can turn into giants, like the majestic mountain ash (<em>Eucalyptus regnans</em>) and the impressive white fig (<em>Ficus virens</em>).</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/aec.13292">newly published paper</a> documents the tallest and the biggest circumference trees across the continent, and the biggest trees in each state and territory. </p>
<p>The top 20 tallest trees in Australia are all mountain ash trees, between 90m and 100m tall. Tasmania dominates with 16 of the tallest trees. The other four are in Victoria. The tallest tree in the country, Centurion, is in Tasmania. It was last officially measured at 99.8m tall, but recent unconfirmed measurements suggest it may now be <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-12/new-milestone-for-australias-tallest-tree-centurion/10604588">over 100m</a>. </p>
<p>Despite widespread land clearing, Australia still supports some of the biggest trees in the world, but we are at risk of losing them. Large old trees play important roles in ecosystems and we must make sure they are protected.</p>
<h2>Why are big trees important?</h2>
<p>Widespread land clearing has led to a loss of old trees in Australia. In New South Wales, more than half the original forest cover at the time of European colonisation has been removed. The trees in some ecosystems, such as those formerly dominated by temperate woodlands, are 95-99% cleared. In the Murray Darling Basin alone, between 12 billion and 15 billion trees <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2404628">have been cut down</a>.</p>
<p>The loss of large old trees can have major impacts on ecosystems. These trees store huge amounts of carbon. Stands of old-growth trees produce <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969719328712">significantly more water</a> than catchments dominated by young trees.</p>
<p>Large old trees also provide habitat for many species of other plants and animals, such as the leadbeater’s possum and greater glider. The hollows that develop in large old trees are especially important in Australia. <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/book/3010">More than 300 species</a> of vertebrates depend on these hollows – a greater proportion than anywhere else on Earth.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cockatoos-and-rainbow-lorikeets-battle-for-nest-space-as-the-best-old-trees-disappear-165973">Cockatoos and rainbow lorikeets battle for nest space as the best old trees disappear</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>These trees are also important in First Nations and Western cultures. For example, large old trees are sacred places and were <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1871519216301299">birthing sites</a> for First Nations women. They are also <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27383287/">part of many</a> religions and feature in numerous books, movies and famous paintings.</p>
<h2>The tallest trees</h2>
<p>Centurion, Australia’s tallest tree, was damaged in a bushfire in 2019 but luckily <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-26/tall-tree-centurion-survives-bushfire/10758538">survived</a>. Other giant mountain ash trees are <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/aec.13292">declining in height</a> as their crowns die back, part of the natural ageing process.</p>
<p>There are concerns that fire, logging and climate change are leading to a <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1721738115">hidden collapse</a> of mountain ash ecosystems.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A giant mountain ash tree" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511542/original/file-20230221-22-cdg2rp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511542/original/file-20230221-22-cdg2rp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511542/original/file-20230221-22-cdg2rp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511542/original/file-20230221-22-cdg2rp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511542/original/file-20230221-22-cdg2rp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511542/original/file-20230221-22-cdg2rp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511542/original/file-20230221-22-cdg2rp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mountain ash is the tallest species of tree in Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/tallest-tree-world-115-meters-eucalyptus-1492620545">Fabi Mingrino/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Interestingly, there are historical records of trees significantly taller than the ones known today. For example, a 113m tall mountain ash was felled and then measured in 1880 in Victoria. </p>
<p>Other trees have been claimed to exceed 130m in height. The accuracy of these claims is under question, however, due to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature02417">physiological constraints</a> on tree height. Trees cannot pump water from their roots up to their canopy over such vast distances.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Man standing next to a giant mountain ash tree in 1890" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511352/original/file-20230221-3073-9ub6uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511352/original/file-20230221-3073-9ub6uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=864&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511352/original/file-20230221-3073-9ub6uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=864&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511352/original/file-20230221-3073-9ub6uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=864&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511352/original/file-20230221-3073-9ub6uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1085&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511352/original/file-20230221-3073-9ub6uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1085&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511352/original/file-20230221-3073-9ub6uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1085&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Historic records show we used to have even taller trees than we do today, like this mountain ash in the Dandenong Ranges from 1890.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/1448769">A.J. Campbell/Museums Victoria</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The trees with the biggest girth</h2>
<p>Tasmania again dominates as land of the giant trees, with 12 of the 20 trees with the biggest girth. The top 20 also features trees from New South Wales, Western Australia, Queensland and Victoria. To work out the girth of a tree, its circumference is measured at a height of about 1.4m up the trunk.</p>
<p>A white fig in northern New South Wales is the tree with the largest known circumference in Australia at 31m. To put that into perspective, it would take about 18 people from fingertip to fingertip to circle the tree.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A large white fig tree" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511543/original/file-20230221-18-o43ah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511543/original/file-20230221-18-o43ah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511543/original/file-20230221-18-o43ah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511543/original/file-20230221-18-o43ah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511543/original/file-20230221-18-o43ah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511543/original/file-20230221-18-o43ah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511543/original/file-20230221-18-o43ah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The tree with the biggest circumference in Australia is a white fig.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cathedral-fig-tree-near-yungaburra-north-2228815507">Ken Griffiths/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Measuring the circumference of figs can be very challenging. This is because the way the trunks grow creates “air points” where the trunk is not in contact with the measuring tape.</p>
<p>Mountain ash again dominates the list, accounting for 11 of the 20 largest circumference trees. The mountain ash with the biggest girth was Twin Towers, coming in at a whopping 22.4m.</p>
<p>The Moreton Bay fig (<em>Ficus macrophylla</em>) also made it into the top 20, coming in at number 2 with a specimen 29m in circumference. As did red tingle (<em>Eucalyptus jacksonii</em>) with an individual measuring 22.3m coming in at number 4.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="The trunk and canopy of a red tingle tree" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511589/original/file-20230222-25-61sitj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511589/original/file-20230222-25-61sitj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511589/original/file-20230222-25-61sitj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511589/original/file-20230222-25-61sitj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511589/original/file-20230222-25-61sitj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511589/original/file-20230222-25-61sitj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511589/original/file-20230222-25-61sitj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Red tingle can only be found in a small area of Western Australia, in and around Walpole-Nornalup National Park.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flickr.com/photos/29320962@N07/6063461219">Giles Watson/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Messmate (<em>Eucalyptus obliqua</em>) also made it into the top 20. At 20.5m in circumference, the Mt Cripps Giant came in at number 8 on the list. Messmates were the first of the eucalypts to be formally described (in 1788), giving us the scientific name Eucalyptus.</p>
<h2>We need large trees</h2>
<p>Large old trees are under threat in many landscapes. They are declining in forests, woodlands, savannas and agricultural and urban environments across Australia.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-end-of-big-trees-11217">The end of big trees?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Large old trees are at risk from wildfires, disease, logging and climate change. Even though such trees are now only rarely cut down in logging operations, logging in the surrounding landscape makes them more <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0193132">vulnerable to collapse</a> from wind damage. Climate change, and especially long droughts, also can increase the chance of large old trees dying. This is because of the stress of pumping water all the way to the canopy.</p>
<p>The many important ecological and cultural roles played by large old trees mean we must work far harder to protect the ones that survive. One of the important protection strategies will be to create larger buffers in areas of forest.</p>
<p>We also need to think about growing the next cohorts of large old trees. It is not possible to become a big tree without being a small one first. We need to make sure younger stands of trees are protected so they can become new generations of giants in the centuries to come.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>David Lindenmayer acknowledges the major contributions to this work from Dr Jess Williams and Mr Brett Mifsud.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200276/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Lindenmayer receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Government of Victoria and the Australian Government.
David Lindenmayer acknowledges the major contributions to this work from Dr Jess Williams and Mr Brett Mifsud. </span></em></p>The mountain ash dominates as the tallest species of tree, but they did not win tree with the biggest girth.David Lindenmayer, Professor, The Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1986252023-02-09T06:07:01Z2023-02-09T06:07:01ZGlobal supply chains are devouring what’s left of Earth’s unspoilt forests<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508906/original/file-20230208-27-lydj6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6000%2C3997&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/timber-export-import-loading-on-cargo-1829908331">Dawid K Photography/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>While farming continues to drive deforestation around the world, <a href="https://www.cell.com/one-earth/fulltext/S2590-3322(22)00634-0?utm_campaign=Press%20Package&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=241473130&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_uESE6jJQx2vkMNsMr6ur0GhXSpYfLFyYjP07bM3yHLEkqJiRmwvo27wgourVM-4OZ_JLFRmmLTr_9XBeCj2BiG42NxfstdLoRxQHmhRvRk0GaxUM&utm_content=241473130&utm_source=hs_email">60%</a> of the destruction of Earth’s large, intact forests is caused by other forces. In particular, our research shows that more than one-third of this destruction can be blamed on the production of commodities for export, particularly <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0264837721000478">timber</a>, minerals and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306261919309638">oil and gas</a>.</p>
<p>Increasing global demand for these commodities, which are often exported through globe-spanning supply chains, explains much of the ongoing removal, degradation and fragmentation of intact forests in a handful of countries including Brazil, Canada, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Russia.</p>
<p>We define intact forest landscapes (IFLs) as seamless mosaics of forest and related habitats bigger than 500km² where there is no detectable sign of activities such as logging, mining or energy extraction. Although IFLs made up 20% of the world’s remaining tropical forest in 2020, they stored 40% of all the carbon held in these habitats. Since 2000, the global extent of IFLs has shrunk by 7.2%, a loss of 1.5 million km² – more than quadruple the area of Germany.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A hazy forest canopy." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508908/original/file-20230208-23-8h76xt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508908/original/file-20230208-23-8h76xt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508908/original/file-20230208-23-8h76xt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508908/original/file-20230208-23-8h76xt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508908/original/file-20230208-23-8h76xt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508908/original/file-20230208-23-8h76xt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508908/original/file-20230208-23-8h76xt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Intact forests are havens for biodiversity and colossal carbon sinks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/healthy-deciduous-coniferous-trees-early-autumn-489395818">Sivivolk/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We integrated economic models with a <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/sciadv.1600821">global dataset</a> on IFL loss to better understand the extraction and export of commodities in the 2014 world economy. We found that the commodities driving the lion’s share of forest loss were primarily extracted from Russia, Canada and tropical regions to the EU, US and China. More than 60% of IFL loss was related to the consumption of a wide range of non-agricultural products including paper, metals and other highly processed products. </p>
<p>These causes of forest loss are more obscure to consumers than traditional food and forest products. For example, it is widely understood that beef production drives deforestation in the Amazon. It is less well known that the manufacture of office furniture involves timber and metals acquired at the expense of the world’s dwindling intact forests. Even the power in your home may be derived from oil and gas associated with IFL loss. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A wooden desk in an office." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508909/original/file-20230208-25-izfcn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508909/original/file-20230208-25-izfcn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508909/original/file-20230208-25-izfcn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508909/original/file-20230208-25-izfcn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508909/original/file-20230208-25-izfcn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508909/original/file-20230208-25-izfcn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508909/original/file-20230208-25-izfcn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The origins of the products we buy aren’t always clear.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/wooden-work-desk-laptop-documents-books-1716833923">Fizkes/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So, adopting a plant-based diet will not target all of the big drivers of forest loss. Governments and businesses improving the transparency and traceability of the supply chains they govern could kickstart the phasing out of other destructive products.</p>
<h2>Forest loss and supply chains</h2>
<p>Forest scientists and campaigners tend to focus their attention on the wholesale conversion of forests into livestock pasture or cropland. But even the intrusion of logging and mining into relatively small areas can <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.1600821">degrade and fragment</a> a forest, greatly damaging the ecosystem’s health and accelerating its destruction by making it easier for people to access what remains. </p>
<p>The establishment of roads, exploration trails and electricity transmission lines often <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abb3021">precedes</a> the complete destruction of forests. Mining and the extraction of oil and gas is second only to agriculture in destroying IFLs – and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-021-01026-5">the loss</a> of stored carbon which results from forest degradation has exceeded that from deforestation (the complete removal of forest) in the Brazilian Amazon.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A satellite image of a forest landscape broken up crops." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508914/original/file-20230208-13-oak7ni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508914/original/file-20230208-13-oak7ni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508914/original/file-20230208-13-oak7ni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508914/original/file-20230208-13-oak7ni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508914/original/file-20230208-13-oak7ni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508914/original/file-20230208-13-oak7ni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508914/original/file-20230208-13-oak7ni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Roads can connect extraction sites and allow commodity production to expand into forests.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/high-resolution-satellite-image-showing-forest-1778822900">ASVMAGZ/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Global supply chains enable countries to avoid destroying forests within their own borders by importing finished products from overseas. How countries decide to use their land is no longer simply determined by demand for products within the country.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0264837721000478">International trade</a> and surging global consumption of land-based products plays a far bigger role. For example, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jiec.12417">Russia</a> produces lots of wood for countries with few forests and for strictly regulated regions such as EU member states.</p>
<p>Revealing the ties between regional IFL loss and the products people buy in other countries shows how global supply chains of various commodities influence forest ecosystems worldwide. Considering the exceptional value of IFLs to conservation, this perspective can also expose the forces driving carbon emissions and biodiversity loss.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>More than 60% of global intact forest loss is unrelated to farming, our research showsSiyi Kan, Research Fellow in Emission and Trade Analysis, UCLBin Chen, Postdoctoral Research Associate in Environmental Engineering, Fudan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1962872022-12-12T19:03:04Z2022-12-12T19:03:04Z‘Complete elation’ greeted Plibersek’s big plans to protect nature - but hurdles litter the path<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500333/original/file-20221212-95822-9ad3nx.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">NSW government</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has <a href="https://minister.dcceew.gov.au/plibersek/speeches/labors-nature-positive-plan-better-environment-better-business">announced</a> a much-anticipated overhaul of Australia’s national environment law. The plan is rich with welcome new policies – but the path to change is littered with hurdles.</p>
<p>The changes largely follow the recommendations of a <a href="https://epbcactreview.environment.gov.au">major review</a> of the law, known as the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act. The review by Professor Graeme Samuel was released in 2020. <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/drive/rn-drive/14111536">Speaking to ABC radio</a> last week, Samuel expressed “complete elation and unqualified admiration and respect” for Plibersek’s comprehensive policy response.</p>
<p>The path of this big agenda stretches far beyond the one-term political horizon. I was a senior public servant responsible for managing and reforming the EPBC Act from 2007 to 2012. I’ve seen firsthand the obstacles to ambitious environmental reform. </p>
<p>Here are four hurdles Plibersek will have to jump, just for starters.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="woman in blue jacket holds microphone" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500335/original/file-20221212-95362-3fgs0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500335/original/file-20221212-95362-3fgs0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500335/original/file-20221212-95362-3fgs0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500335/original/file-20221212-95362-3fgs0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500335/original/file-20221212-95362-3fgs0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500335/original/file-20221212-95362-3fgs0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500335/original/file-20221212-95362-3fgs0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek’s new nature reforms will meet a number of hurdles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>1. The absence of a climate trigger</h2>
<p>The Greens and several crossbenchers have <a href="https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/politics/tanya-plibersek-rules-out-climate-trigger-in-new-environment-laws-as-labor-faces-backlash-from-greens-and-coalition-to-landmark-reforms-of-epbc-act/news-story/6fd4929104a6cbd9492e853eae316385">criticised</a> Plibersek’s failure to include a so-called “climate trigger” in the reforms. This means the legislation’s passage through the Senate is not assured.</p>
<p>Legislating a climate trigger would mean a project’s future contribution to climate change would be assessed as part of the approvals process. This could mean a heavy-emitting project, such as an industrial plant or coal mine, is refused or its operations curtailed.</p>
<p>Plibersek has <a href="https://minister.dcceew.gov.au/plibersek/transcripts/abc-news-breakfast-interview-minister-environment-and-water-tanya-plibersek-2">argued</a> the federal government’s safeguard mechanism already regulates polluting facilities, and there’s no need to duplicate this.</p>
<p>Fair point. But <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jul/25/david-pocock-calls-for-climate-trigger-in-emissions-legislation-ahead-of-new-parliament-opening">critics</a> also make a fair point: that Australia’s foremost environmental law does not deal with the most significant environmental threat of all. </p>
<p>There are opportunities for the federal government to introduce a limited climate trigger – for example, to large-scale land clearing. Such destruction is a significant <a href="https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/uploads/c1e786d5d0fe4c4bc1b91fc200cbaec8.pdf">contributor</a> to Australia’s emissions, but is not covered by the safeguard mechanism. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-greens-climate-trigger-policy-could-become-law-experts-explain-how-it-could-help-cut-emissions-and-why-we-should-be-cautious-187998">The Greens' climate trigger policy could become law. Experts explain how it could help cut emissions – and why we should be cautious</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="felled trees in forest" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500339/original/file-20221212-99136-qh64s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500339/original/file-20221212-99136-qh64s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500339/original/file-20221212-99136-qh64s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500339/original/file-20221212-99136-qh64s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500339/original/file-20221212-99136-qh64s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500339/original/file-20221212-99136-qh64s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500339/original/file-20221212-99136-qh64s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The government could apply the climate trigger to land clearing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>2. Eliminating weasel words</h2>
<p>The government’s new national environmental standards are the central plank of the reforms. Introducing such standards is a cutting-edge policy. The new federal Environmental Protection Agency will be tasked with ensuring the standards are adhered to.</p>
<p>Some standards will clearly describe the outcomes developments must meet – spelling out exactly what a healthy environment looks like. Projects will be required to align with this vision.</p>
<p>Other standards will describe processes needed to support the law’s proper functioning.</p>
<p>But drafting major changes to legislation is a fraught process – and the devil may yet creep into the detail.</p>
<p>The federal government must, in particular, weed out weasel words that might rob the standards of their punch – terms such as “as far as possible”. </p>
<p>And while the government’s reforms have been broadly welcomed by the business sector, it can expect opposition to its plan to extend standards to regional forestry agreements.</p>
<p>These agreements are currently exempt from the EPBC Act. In 2009, the Rudd Labor government <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20091225134404/http://www.environment.gov.au/minister/garrett/2009/mr20091221.html">dismissed</a> a recommendation to review this exemption.</p>
<p>The Albanese government, very cautiously, says it will “begin a process” of applying the new national standards to regional forest agreements, in consultation with stakeholders. </p>
<p>No doubt Labor can still feel the rumbling of the 1995 <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg14519641-000-loggers-win-concession-in-siege-of-canberra/">blockade</a> of Parliament House, when logging trucks blocked all entrances to the building for five days, after a dispute with the Keating government over woodchipping.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="people rally with sign 'Forestry keeps us ina job'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500337/original/file-20221212-97698-9tmah6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500337/original/file-20221212-97698-9tmah6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500337/original/file-20221212-97698-9tmah6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500337/original/file-20221212-97698-9tmah6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500337/original/file-20221212-97698-9tmah6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500337/original/file-20221212-97698-9tmah6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500337/original/file-20221212-97698-9tmah6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The forestry industry is likely to oppose moves to curtail logging.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Launceston Examiner</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. The difficulty of regional planning</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/epbc/epbc-act-reform/regional-planning">Regional environmental plans</a> will work in concert with the new national standards.</p>
<p>Regional plans will give guidance to decision makers, developers and communities on exactly what needs to be protected and where development should occur. </p>
<p>The federal government will partner with states and territories to identify locations where regional plans are needed. Plibersek has moved early, signing an <a href="https://minister.dcceew.gov.au/plibersek/transcripts/press-conference-labors-nature-positive-plan-better-environment-better-business">agreement with Queensland</a> to work together on the plans. </p>
<p>Even so, this is a long and winding road. Devising the plans is likely to be time-consuming, expensive and politically challenging. It will require new federal-state processes and good local consultation, and may highlight tensions about the future of particular regions. </p>
<h2>4. Indigenous views and values</h2>
<p>Plibersek has committed to giving First Nations people a greater say in environmental protection. As a start, the national standards applying to Indigenous engagement will be developed as a priority.</p>
<p>But respectful engagement is just the first step.</p>
<p>The Rudd government <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/australia-backs-un-on-indigenous-rights-20141112-9buw.html">endorsed</a> the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. A parliamentary committee is now <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Aboriginal_and_Torres_Strait_Islander_Affairs/UNDRIP">considering</a> how it might apply in Australia.</p>
<p>Key to the declaration is the principle of <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/11/UNDRIP_E_web.pdf">free, prior and informed consent</a>. Among other things, this means Traditional Owners should have the right to veto a development on their land – something the Native Title Act does not currently provide.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/water-injustice-runs-deep-in-australia-fixing-it-means-handing-control-to-first-nations-155286">Water injustice runs deep in Australia. Fixing it means handing control to First Nations</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Indigenous woman sits by river" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500338/original/file-20221212-94216-3fgs0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500338/original/file-20221212-94216-3fgs0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500338/original/file-20221212-94216-3fgs0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500338/original/file-20221212-94216-3fgs0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500338/original/file-20221212-94216-3fgs0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500338/original/file-20221212-94216-3fgs0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500338/original/file-20221212-94216-3fgs0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Will the government give First Nations veto rights on development proposals?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Backing the future</h2>
<p>Many other significant hurdles lie in the way of the government’s reforms.</p>
<p>Chief among them is the thorny issue of environmental offsetting, in which damage caused by a development in one area is compensated for by improving the environment “like for like” elsewhere. </p>
<p>Under the reforms, if a “like for like” replacement can’t be found, a proponent must make a “conservation payment” to fund biodiversity improvements elsewhere. As others have <a href="https://theconversation.com/our-laws-fail-nature-the-governments-plan-to-overhaul-them-looks-good-but-crucial-detail-is-yet-to-come-196126">noted</a>, this strategy is fraught with issues. </p>
<p>And it remains to be seen if the private sector will embrace the government’s <a href="https://minister.dcceew.gov.au/plibersek/media-releases/joint-media-release-biodiversity-certificates-increase-native-habitat-and-support-australian-landholders">plans</a> to make it easier for the private sector to invest in environmental improvements, by creating “biodiversity certificates” to be bought and sold.</p>
<p>Unless the government offers incentives, it’s hard to see businesses rushing to take part. Special cases aside, there’s rarely profit to be made in restoring nature.</p>
<p>Finally, and most importantly, Plibersek must secure <a href="https://minister.dcceew.gov.au/plibersek/transcripts/transcript-television-interview-abc-730-labors-nature-positive-plan">budget funding</a> to implement these wholesale reforms. One <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/conl.12682">recent study</a> found federal and state spending on threatened species alone was 15% of what’s needed.</p>
<p>Above all else, the success of Plibersek’s plan requires strong backing from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his cabinet.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/half-of-australias-biggest-companies-have-net-zero-emissions-plans-but-climate-action-may-come-too-late-195727">Half of Australia's biggest companies have net-zero emissions plans, but climate action may come too late</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196287/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Burnett does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The path of Plibersek’s big agenda stretches far beyond the one-term political horizon – and it’s fraught with dangers.Peter Burnett, Honorary Associate Professor, ANU College of Law, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1939432022-12-01T13:40:55Z2022-12-01T13:40:55ZSatellites detect no real climate benefit from 10 years of forest carbon offsets in California<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494772/original/file-20221110-27-ibny4x.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C32%2C1542%2C1122&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Redwood forests like this one in California can store large amounts of carbon, but not if they're being cut down.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shane Coffield</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many of the companies promising “net-zero” emissions to protect the climate are relying on vast swaths of forests and what are known as <a href="https://climate.mit.edu/explainers/carbon-offsets">carbon offsets</a> to meet that goal.</p>
<p>On paper, carbon offsets appear to balance out a company’s carbon emissions: The company pays to protect trees, which absorb carbon dioxide from the air. The company can then claim the absorbed carbon dioxide as an offset that reduces its net impact on the climate.</p>
<p>However, our new satellite analysis reveals what researchers have suspected for years: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16380">Forest offsets</a> might not actually be doing much for the climate.</p>
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<p>When we looked at satellite tracking of carbon levels and logging activity in California forests, we found that carbon isn’t increasing in the state’s 37 offset project sites any more than in other areas, and timber companies aren’t logging less than they did before.</p>
<p>The findings send a pretty grim message about efforts to control climate change, and they add to a growing list of concerns about forest offsets. Studies have already shown that projects are <a href="https://carbonplan.org/research/forest-offsets-explainer">often overcredited</a> at the beginning and might not last <a href="https://news.uci.edu/2021/07/22/californias-carbon-mitigation-efforts-may-be-thwarted-by-climate-change-itself/">as long as expected</a>. In this case we’re finding a bigger issue: a lack of real climate benefit over the 10 years of the program so far.</p>
<p>But we also see ways to fix the problem.</p>
<h2>How forest carbon offsets work</h2>
<p>Forest carbon offsets work like this: Trees capture carbon dioxide from the air and use it to build mass, effectively locking the carbon away in their wood for the life of the tree.</p>
<p>In California, landowners can receive carbon credits for keeping carbon stocks above a minimum required “baseline” level. <a href="https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/compliance-offset-program/offset-verification">Third-party verifiers</a> help the landowners take inventory by <a href="https://rmi.org/can-we-count-on-forest-carbon-credits/">manually measuring</a> a sample of trees. So far, this process has only involved measuring carbon levels relative to baseline and has not leveraged the emerging satellite technologies that we explored.</p>
<p>Forest owners can then sell the carbon credits to private companies, with the idea that they have protected trees that would otherwise be cut down. These include large oil and gas companies that use offsets to meet up to 8% of their state-mandated reductions in emissions. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man measures a tree with a tape measure." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496597/original/file-20221121-25-2jy9ld.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496597/original/file-20221121-25-2jy9ld.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496597/original/file-20221121-25-2jy9ld.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496597/original/file-20221121-25-2jy9ld.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496597/original/file-20221121-25-2jy9ld.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496597/original/file-20221121-25-2jy9ld.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496597/original/file-20221121-25-2jy9ld.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Most offset projects are verified by manually measuring the size of a sample of trees.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/here-pnong-man-ply-chhroeut-helps-to-measure-one-of-his-news-photo/167502669">Jerry Redfern/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Forest offsets and other “natural climate solutions” have received a great deal of attention from <a href="https://www.msci.com/documents/1296102/26195050/MSCI-Net-ZeroTracker-October.pdf">companies</a>, <a href="https://www.offsetguide.org/understanding-carbon-offsets/carbon-offset-programs/compliance-offset-programs/">governments</a> and <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2020-nature-conservancy-carbon-offsets-trees/">nonprofits</a>, including <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/08/climate/cop27-carbon-climate-change.html">during the U.N. climate conference</a> in November 2022. California has one of the world’s <a href="https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/compliance-offset-program">largest carbon offset programs</a>, with tens of millions of dollars flowing through offset projects, and is often a model for other countries that are <a href="https://qz.com/carbon-offsets-are-making-a-comeback-at-cop27-1849762633">planning new offset programs</a>.</p>
<p>It’s clear that offsets are playing a large and growing role in climate policy, from the individual to the international level. In our view, they need to be backed by the best available science.</p>
<h2>3 potential problems</h2>
<p>Our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16380">study used satellite data</a> to track <a href="http://emapr.ceoas.oregonstate.edu/getData.html">carbon levels</a>, <a href="https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/CVTNLY">tree harvesting rates</a> and <a href="https://lemma.forestry.oregonstate.edu/data/plot-database">tree species</a> in forest offset projects compared with other similar forests in California.</p>
<p>Satellites offer a more complete record than on-the-ground reports collected at offset projects. That allowed us to assess all of California since 1986.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496552/original/file-20221121-11-yajora.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map shows protected areas and zooms in on one to show how we compared carbon and harvest for the project and similar forests." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496552/original/file-20221121-11-yajora.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496552/original/file-20221121-11-yajora.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496552/original/file-20221121-11-yajora.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496552/original/file-20221121-11-yajora.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496552/original/file-20221121-11-yajora.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496552/original/file-20221121-11-yajora.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496552/original/file-20221121-11-yajora.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Using satellite data, we can track carbon changes and harvest rates in offset projects (red) compared with other private forests (black and gray). The highlighted example project started in 2014 (dashed vertical line).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Adapted from Coffield et al., 2022, Global Change Biology</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>From this broad view, we <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16380">identified three problems</a> indicating a lack of climate benefit:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Carbon isn’t being added to these projects faster than before the projects began or faster than in non-offset areas.</p></li>
<li><p>Many of the projects are owned and operated by large timber companies, which manage to meet requirements for offset credits by keeping carbon above the minimum baseline level. However, these lands have been heavily harvested and continue to be harvested.</p></li>
<li><p>In some regions, projects are being put on lands with lower-value tree species that aren’t at risk from logging. For example, at one large timber company in the redwood forests of northwestern California, the offset project is only 4% redwood, compared with 25% redwood on the rest of the company’s property. Instead, the offset project’s area is overgrown with tanoak, which is not marketable timber and doesn’t need to be protected from logging.</p></li>
</ol>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495926/original/file-20221117-22-sx5wje.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Color-coded satellite image shows how protected areas are carefully carved out, often allowing higher-quality trees to remain in areas being logged." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495926/original/file-20221117-22-sx5wje.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495926/original/file-20221117-22-sx5wje.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495926/original/file-20221117-22-sx5wje.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495926/original/file-20221117-22-sx5wje.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495926/original/file-20221117-22-sx5wje.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495926/original/file-20221117-22-sx5wje.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495926/original/file-20221117-22-sx5wje.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Example of one large timber company’s properties and offset project, which appears to be protecting lands at less risk of logging.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16380">Adapted from Coffield et al., 2022, Global Change Biology</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How California can fix its offset program</h2>
<p>Our research points to a set of recommendations for California to improve its offsets protocols.</p>
<p>One recommendation is to begin using satellite data to monitor forests and confirm that they are indeed being managed to protect or store more carbon. For example, it could help foresters create <a href="https://verra.org/methodologies/methodology-for-improved-forest-management/">more realistic baselines</a> to compare offsets against. Publicly available <a href="https://gedi.umd.edu/">satellite data</a> is improving and can help make carbon offsetting more transparent and reliable. </p>
<p>California can also avoid putting offset projects on lands that are already being conserved. We found <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16380">several projects</a> owned by conservation groups on land that already had low harvest rates.</p>
<p>Additionally, California could improve its offset contract protocols to make sure landowners can’t withdraw from an offset program in the future and cut down those trees. Currently there is a penalty for doing so, but it might not be high enough. Landowners may be able to begin a project, receive a huge profit from the initial credits, cut down the trees in 20 to 30 years, pay back their credits plus penalty, and still come out ahead if inflation exceeds the liability.</p>
<p>Ironically, while intended to help mitigate climate change, forest offsets are also vulnerable to it – particularly in wildfire-prone California. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1029/2021AV000384">Research suggests</a> that California is hugely <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2022.930426">underestimating</a> the <a href="https://theconversation.com/trees-arent-a-climate-change-cure-all-2-new-studies-on-the-life-and-death-of-trees-in-a-warming-world-show-why-182944">climate risks</a> to forest offset projects in the state.</p>
<p>The state protocol requires only 2% or 4% of carbon credits be set aside in an <a href="https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2021-10/nc-forest_offset_faq_20211027.pdf">insurance pool against wildfires</a>, even though multiple projects have been <a href="https://blog.frontiersin.org/2022/08/05/worrying-finding-in-californias-multi-billion-dollar-climate-initiative-reveals-problem-with-using-forests-to-offset-co2-emissions/">damaged by recent fires</a>. When wildfires occur, the lost carbon can be accounted for by the insurance pool. However, the pool may soon be depleted as yearly burned area increases in a warming climate. The insurance pool must be large enough to cover the worsening droughts, wildfires and disease and beetle infestations.</p>
<p>Considering our findings around the challenges of forest carbon offsets, focusing on other options, such as investing in solar and electrification projects in low-income urban areas, may provide more cost-effective, reliable and just outcomes.</p>
<p>Without improvements to the current system, we may be underestimating our net emissions, contributing to the profits of large emitters and landowners and distracting from the real solutions of transitioning to a clean-energy economy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193943/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shane Coffield received funding from the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program for his graduate studies at UC Irvine. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Randerson receives funding from NASA, the US Dept. of Energy Office of Science, the National Science Foundation, and the State of California Strategic Growth Council.</span></em></p>Millions of dollars have gone into California’s forest carbon offset program – with little new carbon storage to show for it, a new study suggests.Shane Coffield, Postdoctoral Scientist in Biospheric Sciences, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASAJames Randerson, Professor of Earth Science, University of California, IrvineLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.