Today, protesters climbed trees and hung banners in front of the Australian High Commission in London to raise awareness of the continued logging of Australia’s old growth and high conservation value forests. An emergency report compiled by environmental and protest groups in Tasmania was delivered detailing the devastation of public forests at the hands of woodchip company Gunns Ltd. The company propose more than 10km of logging roads to access 12 logging ‘coupes’ all of which contain irreplaceable ecosystems and some of the tallest trees on the planet.
Last Monday, concerned members of the British public delivered a petition with 936 names to the embassy asking for an immediate halt to logging old growth forest in Tasmania.
The protest is motivated by the eviction of the long standing protest camp in the Upper Florentine valley in Tasmania. To date 30 protesters and community members acting in the defence of the protest camp have been arrested.
“We have gained support from the Rt Hon Norman Baker MP, who is in the process of tabling an early day motion in Parliament expressing concern about the extent of logging in the Upper Florentine valley in Tasmania” said forest campaigner Phil Neale.
In July, following a meeting in Quebec, The World Heritage Committee requested the State Party to consider an "extension of the property to include appropriate areas of tall eucalypt forest", once more highlighting this issue as being an international concern.
This request has reiterated international concerns with the continued destruction of Tasmania's ancient forests.
“We are calling on Prime Minister Rudd and Premier Bartlett to heed the advice of the IUCN now and place an immediate moratorium on logging in the globally significant forests of the Styx, Weld and Upper Florentine" - Ula Majewski spokesperson for grass roots campaign group ‘Still Wild, Still Threatened’.