THE Environmental Defenders Office, on behalf of the North East Forest Alliance (NEFA), is challenging the North East Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) in the Federal Court.

The NEFA was signed in 1999 and renewed for another 20 years, without review, in 2018.

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The Agreement is between the NSW and Federal governments and covers coastal logging between Sydney and the Queensland border and environmentalists have been dismayed that it has exempted logging from some Federal environmental assessments and approval requirements.

The North East Forest Alliance covers the area between Sydney and Queensland and has links with groups such as the Nambucca Valley Conservation Association and the Coffs Harbour branch of the National Parks Association.

Susie Russell, from the NEFA told News Of The Area that contact was initiated with the Environmental Defenders Office after her group realised that the RFA was virtually rubber stamping forestry operations.

She said that it was of enormous concern to conservationists that the agreement had been signed without acknowledging changes to the forests or climate over the ensuing 20 years.

Ms Russell said, ”The idea that the future of our forests could be signed off without climate change being considered is clearly absurd.

“As our forests are degraded by logging, so are our catchments, and, with heavier rainfall, this will only be exacerbated,” she said.

This case has been planned by the NEFA for several years and the recent finding by the Federal Court, that the Federal Environment Minister has a duty of care to future citizens with her decision making, has heartened them.

Ms Russell said that previous unsuccessful cases have revolved around the definition of a regional forest agreement whereas this case is about consideration of climate change and other relevant information.

If the case succeeds, logging that might affect something of national environmental significance, such as endangered animals, will compel the Federal Minister to make a determination that follows the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, which currently is not required.

Ms Russell said that there are government programs to save endangered species, but stopping logging in state forests is a more cost effective way of saving them.

She pointed out that logging no longer involves crosscut saws and oxen pulling the trees out of the forest, but involves wholesale destruction of habitats and damage to catchments.

She said, “The value of our forests in climate change mitigation through catchment protection, carbon capture and storage is worth more to more people by leaving them intact rather than letting a few people cut them down and cart them away.”

By Andrew VIVIAN