In a
recent media release the North East Forest Alliance (NEFA) called on the state
government to restore the rights of the public to take the Forestry Corporation
to court in order to enforce environmental laws.
“If the
Baird Government refuses to enforce the logging rules, then let us do it,” said
NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh.
“For
years we have been finding the same sorts of logging offences, time after
time. The Forestry Corporation are being
allowed to flout environmental laws with impunity. The Environmental Protection Authority’s (EPAs)
lax regulation is clearly not working. “
Mr Pugh
referred to breaches NEFA had identified in the forests of the North Coast and
the slowness of the EPA in responding to its breach reports.
He said
NEFA ‘s audits showed that environmental laws were being broken constantly and
pointed out that, as 20,000 hectares of NSW’s public forests are logged every
year, both the scale of the breaches and the damage from them is immense.
In 1998
the public’s right to take the Forestry authority to court was removed with the
promise that the EPA would take over regulating and policing the Forestry
authority. According to Mr Pugh the EPA has been a dismal failure.
The
failure of the EPA to enforce the environmental regulations is leading to
destruction of old growth trees, damage to waterways, and failure to protect
the habitat of koalas and other threatened species.
A major
concern is the failure to protect tree hollows.
NEFA particularly has fears for the future of 70 species (28%) of
vertebrates that depend on tree hollows in northern NSW as well as numerous
species, such as koalas, which prefer to feed on older trees.
It
points out that a eucalypt takes 120-180 years to develop hollows and more than
220 years to develop the large hollows needed for large animals. This means that large old growth trees are
priceless treasures.
Is it
lack of will or lack of resources which has made the EPA a “dismal failure” in
enforcing environmental regulations in our forests? There’s an urgent need for a change.
- Leonie Blain
This article was originally published in the VOICES FOR THE EARTH column in The Daily Examiner on December 5, 2016
