[Greens-Media] Bob Brown - Bermagui forests deserve protection

[Kelly, Russell (Sen B. Brown)]

		Friday, 28 November 2008
		
				Bermagui forests deserve protection:
Brown
				Australian Greens Leader Senator Bob
Brown will call for important koala habitat to be saved from logging,
when he addresses a community meeting at Bermagui, on the New South
Wales south coast tonight.
				Senator Brown plans to visit Bermagui's
forests today and speak at a community meeting at Bermagui Community
Hall in the evening (7pm).
				The Bermagui logging has been highly
contentious because it may be habitat for the last known koalas on the
far south coast. 
				Senator Brown said that areas to the
south of Bermagui are also slated for logging.
				"The forests are home to hundreds of
species - and are especially important for koalas already under threat
from climate change. We all know that fragmenting habitat leads to
species extinction."
				"Native forests in south-eastern
Australia are among the most carbon-dense in the world.  They are our
best carbon stores and should be left to contribute to cooling the
planet."
				Senator Brown said that the south coast
forests had been ravaged by woodchipping over many decades but were
still well placed to store far more carbon than plantations, and would
be more resilient carbon banks in the event of climate change.
				"According to Australian National
University research published recently, native forests can capture 135
Mt CO2 a year for the next 100 years, equivalent to 24% of Australia's
total carbon emissions in 2005 if left undisturbed."
				Senator Brown said the logging of
forests and woodlands generates almost 20 per cent of Australia's
greenhouse gas emissions and yet is being treated in the Emissions
Trading Scheme as carbon neutral.
				Senator Brown said that every native
forest was valuable as habitat, as a carbon bank, and as a tourism
resource and it was a credit to the far south coast community that it
has taken such a strong stand against logging at Bermagui.
				For further information, contact Alison
Hetherington 0438 962 998