DEAR News Of The Area,

TURNING native hardwood timber forests used for selective harvesting into carbon storage credits is a dangerous attempt to close a viable industry.

This latest proposition is a ludicrous attack on the highly regulated Australian native hardwood timber sector, essential to sourcing hardwood timber for the country’s growing housing, construction, mining, railways and infrastructure needs.

Native hardwood timber is the only renewable sustainable resource that already captures and stores carbon. Taking a lock up and leave approach to forests is extremely dangerous.

Unmanaged forests cause catastrophic bush fires, causing death to people and animals and destroys property. Setting aside the forests for carbon credits under a yet to be proven method of measurement sounds good, but it is a hair brained idea set to raise a paltry $100 million per annum.

The native hardwood industry in NSW currently generates more than $2.9 billion each year and provides 8900 full time jobs (Ernst and Young Report 2023) and up to 22,000 indirect jobs in the NSW regions.

Australia already imports $5 billion worth of hardwood timber, often from developing countries that don’t have the strict regulatory framework.

The vast quantity of timber in National parks could be used for carbon credits.

Less than one percent of the public forest estate is harvested each year, supervised by the NSW Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) complying with the Integrated Forest Operations Agreement (IFOA).

Regards,
Noel ATKINS,
Director,
REEF Research Foundation.